


Fulminare

by SuchASeeweedBrain



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror Draco Malfoy, Auror Harry Potter, Auror Partners, Auror Ron Weasley, Bisexual Harry Potter, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, M/M, Post-Hogwarts, Post-War, Professor Draco Malfoy, Professor Harry Potter, Slow Burn, Some Dark stuff because of Auror cases, Tattooed Draco Malfoy, Tattooed Harry, Time Skips, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:13:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 49,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24607528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuchASeeweedBrain/pseuds/SuchASeeweedBrain
Summary: Harry spoke at Malfoy's trial. It wasn't a planned thing, but hehadbeen thinking about it for a while. He'd been thinking about the fear in Malfoy's eyes, how hopeless his situation had been and how he had never stood a chance. Harry wanted to give him one.Sure, maybe he didn't have to try and convince the guy to sign up to be an Auror, but he did. Maybe he didn't have to volunteer to be his partner when no one else would, but he did. He most certainly didn't have to fall in love with the guy, but, well, he did.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 236
Kudos: 578





	1. The Trial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is different. A Drarry fic, I've never written one of those before. My friend Lubs got me into Drarry a few months ago when I was so beyond done with the show I was watching at that time. This is completely self-indulgent and also already almost finished. It looks like it's going to be over 50k and I'm pretty sure I only have one chapter left to write. 
> 
> Right now my plan is to post a chapter every other day until it's finished.
> 
> (also I haven't read the actual books in a long time, I did do research for this fic though)

‘No way.’

‘Yes way.’

‘ _No way_.’

‘ _Ron_.’ Harry complained, trying to step past his best mate who was blocking the way to the fireplace.

‘ _Harry_ , this is stupid.’ Ron stepped to the left as Harry tried to dodge around him. Shit, his friend knew him too well.

‘No it’s not. This is the _right thing to do_ , now get out of my way.’ He was about three seconds away from hitting his friend with a Body Bind Curse just so he could get past him. He did not have time for this. Ron sighed deeply, he looked exhausted and Harry felt a spark of guilt in his stomach, but he told it to shut up and he held firm. This was important. ‘Just- just get some rest, okay? Let me do this.’ Harry softened his voice and tried to look calm and collected.

‘Fine,’ Ron breathed out, waving his hands in surrender. ‘but if this doesn’t work out like you want it to, do not come crawling back to me. I will be sleeping.’ Ron marched further into Harry’s apartment, maybe to raid his kitchen (not that he would find much, but still), maybe to crash in Harry’s guest room, who knew. Harry didn’t have time to care, he darted over to the fireplace, tossed some Floo Powder into it and with the familiar dizzying sensation he was off to the Ministry.

The Atrium was bustling as usual, but Harry didn’t stop to look around. He just hurried towards the elevators, keeping his pace brisk and his eyes forward, daring anyone to try and stop him. He headed down to where the Wizengamot was.

‘Excuse me sir, you cannot go in there.’ The first person to try and stop Harry was an Auror placed at the door to the courtroom.

‘I can.’ Harry said as confidently as he could manage. He tipped his chin back just a little so that the light hit his scar. If he couldn’t use his name to do some good, than what the hell _was_ he supposed to use it for? The Auror, to his credit, didn’t do much more than blink quickly a few times. ‘I need to give a testimony.’ Harry tried.

‘I’m sorry mister Potter, the trail has already started and you are not on the registered list of witnesses for the prosecution.’ The Auror said. Harry smiled.

‘I’m not here to speak for the prosecution.’ While the Auror was busy blinking stupidly at him, he slipped inside, closing the door as the affronted yelp sounded. It wasn’t packed in the room, but it was fairly busy. It seemed like they’d only just started. In the middle of the room, on the chair, waiting to be interrogated was a familiar head of white blonde hair. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t too late. 

The fifty or so witches and wizards dressed in plumb coloured robes were intimidating Harry and he wasn’t even in the chair. He couldn’t imagine what that felt like. The High Wizard, Kingsley Shacklebolt (who also happened to be the Minister of Magic), stopped in the middle of a sentence and looked over at Harry with raised eyebrows.

‘Mister Potter?’ Minister Shacklebolt asked. Harry smiled at the Minister.

‘Hello Minister, I hope you don’t mind me sitting in on this?’ Harry said.

‘Of course not, by all means.’ Minister Shacklebolt said, even if he did look a little confused and suspicious. Then again, he looked like that quite often, he had even back in the days of the Order. Harry took a seat near the isle.

When he looked back down at the floor, pale eyes were on him. Malfoy’s face was mostly blank, but Harry knew him well enough to see the fear in his eyes. Wait, did he? Know Malfoy? Or did he just know what he looked like when he was terrified?

Malfoy snapped his eyes away from Harry after only a beat and fixed his eyes on the floor somewhere. Harry didn’t think he’d ever seen Malfoy look more… lost. Harry stuck his hand in his pocket just to make sure the wand was still there.

As the court proceedings started, Harry was once again happy he’d decided that politics weren’t for him, because this was _boring_. He was sure Malfoy would hex him to all hell if he knew that Harry found the trial to determine his future boring, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

Harry almost missed his opportunity.

‘Well, if that is everything we should take this to a vote.’ Minister Shacklebolt said and Harry jolted. He stood up quickly.

‘Actually, Minister, sorry to interrupt, but I would like to say a few things.’ By the buzz in the room, Harry judged that he’d been right in thinking that this wasn’t how things were done. Minister Shacklebolt sighed and turned to him.

‘Mister Potter, you cannot speak for the accused unless he requests that you do.’ Well, alright then. Harry turned to Malfoy.

‘Well, go on then Malfoy.’ He said impatiently when Malfoy kept staring at the floor. Those cool, grey eyes turned to him, disbelieve written all over his face.

‘What are you on about?’ Malfoy asked, his voice rough.

‘Ask me to speak for you.’ Harry pressed. Malfoy’s eyes stayed fixed on him for a good ten seconds, but then he sighed. He looked far older than he actually was, as exhausted as he looked. His skin was even paler than Harry remembered it and there were dark shadows under his eyes.

‘I request that Harry James Potter speaks on my behalf.’ He eventually said in that stupidly posh voice, turning to the Wizengamot. There were some confused murmurs, but no one protested. Minister Shacklebolt motioned for Harry to head down to the little bench where witnesses were brought to give testimony.

Harry didn’t allow his nerves to spread any further than his fluttering stomach. He’d faced down Voldemort, he could do this too. The Minister went through what seemed to be the standard witness spiel and reminded Harry that lying in the court of law could be punished with imprisonment. Harry was tempted to roll his eyes but he didn’t because that seemed rude and the last thing he needed was a headline tomorrow questioning if The Boy Who Lived (Twice) had lost his manners in the war or if he’d always been this rude. There was also a flash in the back of his mind of a little lady dressed in pink and a searing pain in his hand. _I must not tell lies_. He clenched his jaw and forced the images away. Now was not the time.

‘I understand.’ Harry said instead.

‘Alright, Mister Potter, go ahead.’ Minister Shacklebolt said.

‘Well, I have thought about this a lot since the war ended and I am not here to try and… get in the way of justice, but listening to the way this trial has gone, I feel the need to point out a few things.’ Harry forced himself to take a deep breath before continuing. He wished he could stand for this, he wanted to pace, like he’d done when he’d prepared for this. ‘Draco Malfoy and I are the same age. He is barely eighteen. If I’m correct, he received his Dark Mark after our fifth year.’ He looked at Malfoy for confirmation. The look on his face was practically unreadable, but he did offer a small, stiff nod. ‘That would have made him about sixteen years old. _Sixteen_.’ Harry stressed. ‘He was a kid, a _child_ , when he was forced to make an impossible choice. I know _I_ made plenty of stupid decisions when I was sixteen, I didn’t know what I was doing, I still sometimes don’t. Should he really be punished for mistakes he made while he was barely legal?’

‘He let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts.’ One of the members of the Wizengamot spoke up. ‘His actions lead to the Death of Albus Dumbledore.’

‘I know.’ Harry said. ‘I was there.’ That was a little sharper than necessary, but he did not need to be reminded of that day, he remembered. ‘The problem here is the question whether or not Draco Malfoy had a _choice_.’

‘He wasn’t under Imperius, that was checked.’ Another member of the Wizengamot spoke up.

‘That is not the only way to control someone.’ Harry said firmly. He was glad Hermione had helped him prepare for this, even if she hadn’t done it entirely voluntarily. ‘In fact, the easiest way to get someone to do what you want is to threaten them or their loved ones with bodily harm or death. Both mister Malfoy’s father and mother were at one point _living_ with Voldemort. I do not believe he ever had a choice or a chance.’

‘His father was You-Know-Who’s right hand man, and you expect us to believe his son is not a threat to society?’

‘What Lucius Malfoy did is on him, not on his wife or his son. I do not believe it is right to punish someone for the sins of their father, do you?’ Harry fired back. The wizard in question stayed silent. ‘I do actually have a reason to say the things I am saying. When Hermione, Ron and I were caught by Death Eaters and brought to Malfoy Manor, Hermione used a spell on my face to try and make me unrecognizable. So, the Death Eaters brought in Malfoy to confirm whether it was me, or not. I _know_ he recognized me’ Harry turned his eyes to Malfoy, who was studiously looking at the floor. ‘and yet he told them he wasn’t sure, that he didn’t know. He bought us time, which eventually allowed us to escape.’

‘And you know for certain this was his intent?’ He should really learn the names of these people.

‘No, but it was the consequence of his actions.’ Harry made sure to let his eyes drift over the different wizards. ‘I won’t deny that Mister Malfoy and I haven’t always seen eye to eye, in fact, for most of our time at Hogwarts we were at each other’s throats, but I have actually learned from that, I learned that there’s this vicious circle going on at Hogwarts that makes it a breeding ground for division and hatred.’ Thank you Hermione. There was an immediate outburst of whispers all around the room. Minister Shacklebolt silenced them all with a look.

‘Explain, mister Potter.’

‘One of the first things I learned when I entered the wizarding world, was that Slytherin was the bad house. That you didn’t want to go there, that Slytherins were evil. I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone this before, but the Sorting Hat hesitated between putting me in Gryffindor or Slytherin, I am fairly certain the only reason it _didn’t_ put me in Slytherin was because I asked it not to, because I’d been told that Slytherin is where the evil people went.’ This caused another round of murmurs. ‘This prejudice against Slytherin, however, causes the other houses to treat them with caution. Their pride makes them angry that they are treated as such, therefor they act out against the other houses, to them this confirms Slytherin’s reputation and so it goes and goes and it creates this rift that drives young witches and wizards right into the hands of someone like Voldemort who promised to get them the respect they didn’t get elsewhere.’

‘You think this is what caused Death Eaters to join up with Voldemort, House rivalry at Hogwarts?’ A witch asked, disbelieve colouring her voice.

‘No, I think it _contributed_.’ Harry sighed. ‘This is not what we’re here to discuss today.’ He’d gotten side-tracked. ‘My point here is, Draco Malfoy and I have hurt each other plenty of times. We’ve been on opposite sides pretty much since the start and yet, I do not believe he is evil. I do not believe he is a danger to anyone. I think he learned his lesson a while ago and I don’t believe he should be punished for the things he did after he was a _sixteen_ years old and forced into the service of a madman. I believe that when it came down to it, Draco Malfoy did his best not to choose any side. Now while some might argue that is just as bad, there’s also such a thing as self-preservation. I personally don’t know much about it, I’ve been told that is my Gryffindor idiocy,’ there were a few soft laughs in the room. ‘but I can’t blame someone for trying to save themselves and their family. I have lost people that I cared about and I would have done some extreme things to save them if I could have.’

Minister Shacklebolt looked at him like he wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about what Harry had said, but he also didn’t seem angry, so that was a win as far as he was concerned.

‘Was that all?’ He asked and Harry tilted his head.

‘Mostly. I would just like to reiterate that I believe _anyone_ who was still supposed to be at Hogwarts during the war should be tried as the minors they still were.’ He gave that final statement a few seconds to sink in and then rose to leave the witness bench.

‘We will now deliberate.’ Minister Shacklebolt said before casting a Imperturbable Charm around the Wizengamot.

Harry paused near Malfoy’s chair. No one had told him to go straight back to his seat and it wasn’t like Malfoy could do anything even if he tried. Malfoy was still studiously looking at the floor. He seemed to be using the tactic “if I ignore him he might go away”, Harry personally loved that tactic. It wasn’t going to work though.

‘I’m planning on speaking for your mother as well.’ He said and Malfoy’s head snapped up. He was quiet long enough that Harry had almost accepted he wasn’t going to say _anything,_ but as soon as Harry started to walk away Malfoy spoke up.

‘So you’ll speak for me and my mother, but not my father?’ His voice was soft, like he was making sure not to be overheard. Harry looked at him over his shoulder. He’d looked older before, but now he just looked really young and a little nauseous.

‘Yes, I think we both know why.’ Harry said before heading back to his seat to wait for the verdict. He would deny it to anyone who asked, but he was nervous. He’d spend every waking second since the war ended agonising over this. Over the fate of the people who had chosen the wrong side. There were some for whom he would have chosen to lock them up for the rest of their lives, but then there were the ones like Malfoy, who had wiggled their way into Harry’s mind and wouldn’t let go. It was like he didn’t have to worry about the lives of his friends anymore and so his brain fixated on protecting something else.

It had started with Mrs Malfoy and how he wouldn’t have been able to defeat Voldemort in the end if she hadn’t lied and told Voldemort Harry was dead that day in the forest. That’s what started his thoughts about the Malfoys. From Mrs Malfoy, he’d started thinking about Malfoy (Draco, that was) and his terrified face up in the tower the night that Dumbledore died.

Ginny said he had a bleeding heart, that he was caring about the wrong people, but she didn’t understand, she hadn’t been there.

Ron was… Ron. He was trying to protect Harry, but he’d never been particularly good at putting himself in other people’s shoes.

Hermione disagreed purely because she felt like the judicial system would handle it. She believed in it, until Harry explained that they didn’t have such a thing as lawyers in wizarding court. The accused would be expected to arrange their own defence, and who would speak for a known Death Eater but other Death Eaters and how much would their testimony matter? A month or so after the war ended and after the trails of the worst of the Death Eaters were already over, Hermione had actually been the one to initiate the conversation about “what the hell are you thinking?”. Their argument that night was actually the basis for most of his speech. She’d already thrown the arguments the Wizengamot had at him, so he’d already had a chance to think them through.

She was also the reason he’d actually started thinking about why so many Slytherins ended up on the Dark Side.

‘We have reached a verdict.’ Harry was drawn from his musing. He immediately felt his nerves spike. He could see Malfoy swallow thickly. ‘We, the Wizengamot, find Draco Lucius Malfoy not guilty on all charges.’ Harry released the breath he hadn’t even realized he was holding. The media’s cameras flashed. The spell holding Malfoy to the chair must have been released as soon as the verdict was announced because Malfoy sagged forward and set his elbows on his knees burying his face in his hands. His stupidly blond hair formed an extra little curtain as it fell over his forehead, giving him a few moments to himself to process whatever he was feeling.

Then he straightened up, pushed himself off the chair and fixed his clothes. Harry had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from grinning. What a prideful idiot. All about image.

‘You are free to go, mister Malfoy.’ Minister Shacklebolt said. ‘You have been given a second chance, do not waste it.’

‘I don’t intend to, Minister.’ Malfoy said, his voice still a little rough, but unwavering. Minister Shacklebolt dipped his chin in acknowledgement and then waved a hand at the doors, which opened.

Malfoy disappeared from view and just like that, it was done. His mother was next and Harry applied the same tactic. He waited until the end and then told Narcissa Malfoy to ask him to speak on her behalf. She did as he asked with much less hesitation than her son had. Maybe she’d somehow already heard what he’d done, maybe she realized that whatever he’d say couldn’t hurt her chances of getting cleared too much.

He knew getting Narcissa Malfoy off the hook completely probably wouldn’t work like it did with Malfoy junior. Unlike her son, she had not been a minor and so she didn’t have that going for her, but he was fairly certain that he could keep her out of Azkaban. He was so glad to be proven right.

They ordered her to pay a large sum towards the rebuild of Hogwarts and she was also placed under house arrest. She would be confined to the Manor for a year and if after that, she had caused no problems they’d take her off house arrest. If she ever caused trouble again though, the Ministry reserved the right to send her to Azkaban for even minor infractions of the law. She would have to live on the straight and narrow, or go to jail.

Aurors would take her to the Ministry’s Apparating point and take her to the Manor where she’d be escorted inside. Harry left the courtroom as soon as she had disappeared through the doors. He really hoped Malfoy had stayed behind to wait for the results of his mother’s trail.

Sure enough, he found Narcissa Malfoy just outside of the doors, two Aurors flanking her, but with her arms wrapped firmly around her son. He was as tall as she was at this point, but he still managed to hook his chin over her shoulder and look approximately twelve.

As soon as Narcissa’s eyes landed on Harry she pulled back. If Harry hadn’t known better he would have said that Malfoy made a wounded noise at that. She cleared her throat and pointedly looked at Harry who approached them as non-threateningly as he could.

‘Sorry to interrupt, but I have something I need to give you.’ Harry said, again trying not to look threatening as he took the wand from his pocket. The two Malfoys still tensed. The two Aurors didn’t seem worried though. Whether that was because it was Harry or because they wouldn’t care if he hexed them, he wasn’t sure. He hoped it was the first option.

He could see the exact moment where Malfoy realized which wand Harry was holding.

‘That’s my wand.’

‘Yes it is. I held onto it and now that I’ve got the chance, I wanted to give it back.’ Harry said, he held the wand at the tip and pushed the handle towards Malfoy. Months ago he would not have dared to put a wand in Malfoy’s hands, but now? He had kind of kept Malfoy from Azkaban, didn’t purebloods take their debts seriously? He really hoped so, it would fucking suck to die here, right now, after everything.

‘You won it from me, it’s allegiance is to you now.’ Malfoy said, but Harry could see his fingers twitching at his side.

‘I know, but Hermione did some research and she said it’s possible for it to switch back if the wand is returned to the original owner. So,’ Harry pushed the wand a little closer. ‘take it. I have no use for it anyways.’

‘Why are you being nice to us?’ Malfoy asked, his face twisting at the word “nice”, earning him a sharp look from his mother.

‘That’s not a very Slytherin thing of you to ask.’ Harry tried to joke, but Malfoy didn’t seem to be in a laughing mood, which was fair. ‘I am not “being nice” I am doing what’s right. What am I supposed to do with this?’ He gestured with the wand. ‘It’s of no use to me, you’re here, I’m giving it back.’

‘And the dramatic speech in there?’ Malfoy asked, still not taking the damn wand back. Harry’s arm was starting to protest. ‘How long did it take Granger to write that one?’

‘I came up with most of it myself, thank you very much.’ Harry said, doing his best Malfoy impression. Malfoy almost rolled his eyes before he seemed to remember his mother was right there and that was not proper etiquette, or at least that’s what Harry was assuming was going on in Malfoy’s head.

He reached out, his hands were so pale Harry could see the blue hues of his veins running under his skin. He took the wand back and slipped it into his pocket without looking at it further.

‘Mister Potter, we have to take Mrs Malfoy to the Manor now.’ One of the Aurors said. Harry was pretty sure that was Robyan.

‘Yes, of course.’ Harry took a step to the side to let them pass, but she paused before walking past him.

‘Mister Potter, I don’t know what exactly your motivation was to do what you did, but thank you.’ He could tell she was not used to thanking people.

‘I was just doing the right thing. I meant what I said in there.’ She studied him for a few more seconds before a thin little smile appeared on her face. It made her look years younger.

‘I’m sure you did.’ She said before tilting her chin up and walking off, having the Aurors trail behind her like they were there for her protection, not the protection of the others around her. As alien as their behaviour felt to Harry, he admired their ability to appear in control of the situation no matter what was happening.

‘So, what are your plans now?’ Harry asked, turning back to Malfoy. He wasn’t sure _why_ he was attempting to have a conversation with him, but he’d already asked, so he could hardly back out now. Sure enough, Malfoy looked at him like he had grown a second head. ‘Hogwarts is offering everyone who was supposed to be a seventh year last year the opportunity to take their NEWTs in about a month. They’re offering tutoring to whoever needs it and if you don’t get the results you want, you get to redo them, but that does mean you have to redo the whole seventh year, which obviously won’t start until September, but it is a pretty good deal. Sure a month to prepare isn’t like an entire year but you were always pretty good at school, right? So it might not be a problem for you.’ Malfoy blinked at him as Harry snapped his mouth shut.

‘I don’t quite understand what just happened, but I will take my NEWTs. I assume I can contact McGonagall for any further information that I wasn’t able to understand from the garbled nonsense you just spewed?’ Harry narrowed his eyes.

‘Hey, that was not garbled. I made perfect sense.’

‘Whatever you say, Potter. Now, if you don’t mind, I am going to go home.’ Malfoy took a few steps towards the elevators and then stopped. He took a deep breath before looking back at Harry over his shoulder. ‘I don’t like owing a debt to anyone, especially not you. Figure out what you want, Potter.’ Before Harry could protest that he really didn’t _want_ Malfoy to pay him back for anything, that’s not why he had done it, Malfoy was already off. His shoulders were back again and he looked poised, ignoring all of the distrustful looks and the whispers that followed him as he headed to the elevators as a free man.

‘Damn Slytherins.’ Harry muttered to himself before deciding to grab a coffee in the cafeteria before he headed home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go! First chapter done.  
> I have to admit I am beyond nervous to post this. Drarry feels very much out of my comfort zone, but I wanted to try something new, so here I go. 
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


	2. The Exams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I am again! Back for chapter 2!  
> Thank you for the wonderful response to chapter 1!

It was very strange to take a test outside of Hogwarts. Harry had decided that pretty early on. During his later years at Hogwarts he had never expected to be sitting in a large hall in the Ministry, waiting for the results of his NEWTs. Sure the professors were there, McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout, but there had also been a few unfamiliar faces to observe their Potions, DADA and Care of Magical Creatures NEWTs. It send a flutter of discomfort down Harry’s spine to be in a Potions type environment without Snape lurking around. It just didn’t feel right without his constant sneer.

To be completely honest, Harry felt entirely out of his depth during the examinations. And uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. That was mostly because the assessors had all either fought with him or looked at him like he was… well, the saviour of the wizarding world. No matter how many times he told them it had not _just_ been him, that he’d had a lot of help from a lot of people, it didn’t seem to matter.

He was certain he’d made a giant whopping mistake during his Herbology practical exam (the plant in question nearly bit his hand off) but the assessor had just patted him on the shoulder and told him that he’d earned extra points for his quick reflexes. It made the back of Harry’s neck burn. He was getting things handed to him, he just didn’t know how to get them to stop without coming off as ungrateful.

There was also the issue of Draco Malfoy.

Malfoy had always looked pointy. Pointy nose, sharp chin, sharp jaw, sharp cheekbones, thin lips. Pale complexion. Sharp, pointy words in that stupidly sharp and posh voice. Harry had spent enough time staring at him (trying to figure out what he was up to, obviously) to know this, but when he’d showed up to the same hall as Harry for his Charms NEWT, Harry had noticed immediately that he looked worse than the last time Harry had seen him. Which was almost impressive considering the last time Harry had seen him he’d just been in a holding cell in the Ministry for over a month awaiting his trail.

His chin seemed pointier, probably because of his slightly sunken cheeks. He had dark circles under his eyes and his hair had gotten longer. He almost looked a little like his father, which send an involuntary shiver down Harry’s spine. Instead of the proud, Malfoy strut he was used to, he moved around the room like he was begging everyone to pay as little attention to him as possible. Like if he could have, he would have put on his strongest Notice-Me-Not charm. But Harry did notice. He’d spend years making sure that he knew where Malfoy was at all times and that hadn’t just stopped because they weren’t technically on opposite sides now.

Harry also noticed him in Potions (unsurprising), Transfiguration and DADA. Hermione mentioned he’d also been in her Ancient Runes and Arithmancy NEWTs (she might not have offered the information without prompting, Harry _might_ have asked). Harry was curious, that was all.

Not everyone from their year was there, probably only about half. Harry had known some wouldn’t come back at all (after all, not all jobs required NEWTs) and some would choose redoing the whole year come September. Harry _had_ spotted most of the Slytherins from their year. He supposed they were just hoping not to have to go back to Hogwarts ever again, he would assume that wouldn’t be pleasant for them. Harry had spotted Zabini, Parkinson and Greengrass during his Herbology NEWT and he’d seen most of the others during his Charms and Potions NEWTs. It seemed like they were keeping their distance from everyone else as much as from each other. It couldn’t be easy for them, suddenly not knowing where loyalties laid.

Harry was sitting with Hermione (who was flipping through a book, checking her own answers), Ron (who was laying flat on his back with his eyes closed) and Neville, when McGonagall approached. Harry was annoyed that his hands were shaking as McGonagall handed him the envelope with his results, but she gave him a small smile, so he was pretty sure it couldn’t be awful? 

He opened the envelope and pulled out the parchment. He skipped the whole mumbo jumbo at the beginning and went straight for the little box with his results.

_Care of Magical Creatures Outstanding_

_Charms Outstanding_

_Defence Against the Dark Arts Outstanding_

_Herbology Exceeds Expectations_

_Potions Exceeds Expectations_

_Transfiguration Outstanding_

‘Oh thank god.’ He whispered to himself. He’d passed all of them.

‘And?’ Hermione asked. She was grinning widely so Harry assumed she’d gotten straight O’s.

‘Passed all of them. Four O’s and two E’s.’ He said holding the parchment out to her. She handed hers back to him in a trade. Sure enough, Hermione got O’s in Charms, DADA, Herbology, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes _and_ Potions. Show off. ‘Damn, Hermione. Congratulations.’ He said and she beamed at him.

‘Ronald?’ She asked. Ron had only just opened his envelope and Harry felt his stomach squeeze with nerves for his friend. Ron looked up looking relieved more than anything.

‘Passed all of them.’ Ron had decided to opt out of the Creatures NEWT, but otherwise he’d taken the same as Harry.

‘Awesome. Congrats Ron.’ Harry said as Hermione threw herself at Ron with an excited squeal. Harry turned to Neville when Hermione kissed Ron on the mouth, that was not something he needed to see. ‘What about you Neville? You got an O for Herbology, right?’

‘Yeah.’ Neville blushed a little. ‘Passed the rest of them too.’

‘Good. Now you can go and be the most awesome Herbology professor ever.’ Harry said with a grin.

His eyes were drawn away from Neville’s slightly embarrassed smile, to the blonde dressed in black trying to melt into the shadows. Malfoy wasn’t too far away from them so Harry could see how tightly he was gripping the parchment with his scores. Harry hoped he got what he wanted. He was surprised to find that he wanted to go over to him and find out.

Footsteps behind him had him snap out of it. His hand went for his wand without even thinking about it. He caught himself just before he threw a hex over his shoulder. He forced himself to breathe. The person behind him cleared their throat.

‘Potter?’ He couldn’t immediately place the voice, but he forced himself to turn his head slowly. He was safe. He was safe. He could tell by the look on Hermione’s face that she already disliked this.

Behind him stood Pansy Parkinson. The one who had tried to convince the students at Hogwarts to hand Harry over to Voldemort. She looked as put together as she always had at Hogwarts, but Harry could see the tension in her shoulders and the nervous flicker of her eyes.

Harry pushed himself to his feet, slowly. He didn’t want to give the impression that he was going to launch himself at her. He wouldn’t. Just like Malfoy, she had just been a kid when the whole thing went down. Somehow it was harder to remind himself of that with her.

‘Parkinson?’ He said, unable to keep his voice entirely blank. She squared her shoulders, seemingly telling herself to just get it over with.

‘I don’t ever really do this so you better enjoy it, but I wanted to say I’m sorry and thank you.’ She did sound a little bit like it pained her to get the words out.

‘What exactly are you apologizing for?’ Hermione asked, her tone making it immediately clear that she thought there were a lot of things. Parkinson clenched her jaw so tightly Harry was concerned for her teeth.

‘I’m apologizing’ she said through clenched teeth. ‘for trying to turn you over to the Dark Lord.’

‘And what are you thanking him for?’ Ron asked, his head titled in the way Harry usually associated with him hexing someone. Parkinson’s eyes were spitting fire, but she kept her voice level.

‘I am thanking him for keeping me and my friends out of Azkaban.’ She flexed her hands at her sides. ‘Now I’m leaving before your _pals_ drive me to-‘ She cut herself off, snapped her mouth shut. She turned on her heel and walked away. Harry sighed.

‘You could have just let it go.’ He said, surprised by how tired his voice sounded.

‘Oh come on Harry, it was a prime opportunity to get a Slytherin to swallow their pride, I can’t pass up on that.’ Ron grinned, unbothered.

‘We’re not at Hogwarts anymore, Ron. Houses don’t count.’ Harry tried but Ron just rolled his eyes.

‘Oh please, once a Slytherin, always a Slytherin.’ Harry sighed again, looking to Hermione for help. She gave him a look.

‘Harry, I know you want to believe that the Slytherins aren’t inherently evil, and I agree with you on that, but for most of the ones in our year one or both of their parents went to Azkaban after the war. You need to be careful. Just because you want to leave the war and Hogwarts Houses behind you doesn’t mean they will do so as well.’ She said using her most pleading look to try and convince him.

‘I’m always careful, Hermione.’ Both Ron and Neville burst out laughing at that. ‘What? I am!’ Harry said indignantly. He knew he wasn’t, he never had been, but it was so nice to hear them laugh, he wanted to make sure that he could hear it a little longer. Sure enough, even Hermione joined in. Harry found himself smiling as he looked at his friends.

They had been through so much together and somehow they’d survived and come out relatively okay in the end. Sure, Harry woke up with nightmares almost nightly and he’d taken to taking a small dose of Dreamless Sleep every night before he went to bed so that he’d at least catch a few hours and sure Ron flinched at every loud sound and sure Hermione would sometimes still get that haunted look in her eyes and she only ever wore long sleeves and Neville would clench his fists sometimes without a clear reason, but they were alive and they’d be okay.

In moments like this it was easy to forget everything they’d been through.

‘What do you think Malfoy got on his NEWTs?’ Neville asked, his voice was carefully blank like he never used to be able to before the war. His eyes were aimed at Malfoy, who was still standing with his back against the wall, but he’d been joined by Zabini and they seemed to be quietly arguing about something.

‘I don’t know or care, but he doesn’t look happy.’ Ron observed.

‘He looks exhausted.’ Hermione said with a mild reproachful look at Ron. ‘It must be hard on him and his mother with his father in Azkaban.’ Ron rolled his eyes.

‘This idea that the two of you seem to have that you suddenly have to feel bad for Malfoy.’ He shook his head. ‘I don’t get it. Are you forgetting everything he did to us, to _you_?’

‘Ron, we’ve talked about this before Harry went and testified for him.’ Hermione started. ‘I know how much he hurt me, but _I_ am allowed to decide whether I want to hold that against him or not. I am tired, I don’t want to spend energy on holding grudges, I have better things to do.’

‘Like take over the Wizarding World with your brilliance.’ Harry grinned, okay, maybe not his best word choice ever, but Hermione didn’t seem to mind. She just grinned at him.

‘Obviously, Minister Shacklebolt better hold onto his job tightly.’ Despite Ron just not quite getting Harry and Hermione’s outlook, he did send his girlfriend a proud look. Neville opened his mouth to say something when they were interrupted by a loud voice.

‘Would you just let it go, I am _not_ doing it!’ They all turned towards the yelling voice and found that it was Zabini who had snapped at Malfoy. Malfoy straightened up, drawing himself to his full height, for the first time since the trial he looked like himself. Whatever Malfoy hissed back at him was too quiet for Harry to catch, but it didn’t look friendly.

‘Just because you rolled over like a good little doggie doesn’t mean we all have, Malfoy.’ Zabini snapped before storming off. He threw Harry and his friends a nasty look before disappearing from the room.

‘Well, that seemed like it went well.’ Neville remarked before holding his hand out to Harry. He helped pull Neville to his feet. He brushed off his pants. ‘I am going to head home. Let’s get together at some point because I’m still not quite sure what I’m going to do with these.’ He waved his parchment with his NEWTs around.

‘Sure thing, Neville.’ Hermione said with a smile as she got to her feet as well. ‘Ron and I should head off too, we are helping Molly with dinner.’ Ron groaned as he pushed himself to his feet.

‘Yay, cooking.’ He said in the least enthusiastic way possible. ‘Are you coming with us, Harry?’ Harry found his eyes drawn to the lonely figure against the wall.

‘I’ll join you guys later, okay? I want to see if I can find some of the others from our year.’ Harry said, giving them a reassuring smile. Hermione looked like she didn’t believe him, but that was okay, she wouldn’t call him out on it. Hermione (thankfully) subscribed to the idea that Harry needed to work through things differently than she did, she worried about him, clearly, but she did also trust him. To a certain extend at least.

‘Just be careful.’ She reached over to squeeze his forearm. ‘We’ll see you at dinner.’

‘See you later mate.’ Ron grinned before taking Hermione’s hand and taking off.

‘Bye Harry.’

‘Bye Neville.’ Harry waited until his friends had left the room before turning to see if Malfoy was still there. He was, but he wasn’t alone anymore. Daphne Greengrass had joined him. He’d always thought of her hair as blonde, but next to Malfoy’s it was almost brown. Her robes looked expensive and she seemed the most calm out of any of the Slytherins he’d seen today.

He started heading in their general direction. He wasn’t trying to approach them per se (except he really was), he would just casually pass by them on his way to… Padma who he was pretty sure he’d seen somewhere in the hall. He didn’t have to figure out a way to casually start up a conversation with them (luckily because he had no idea how to do that), because Greengrass spoke up when he came near them.

‘Potter.’ He looked over at her, she looked both apprehensive and annoyed at the same time. Like she was annoyed at her own apprehension. ‘Do you have a second?’ He made sure to smile at her.

‘Sure thing.’ He was pretty sure her mother was the only one in her family to go to Azkaban. She’d schooled her features into a bland, pleasant mask when he’d gotten close enough to have a normal conversation.

‘I wanted to thank you for what you did for my friends, since some of them are too proud to say it themselves.’ Behind her Malfoy rolled his eyes. ‘I hope you know that we appreciate you trying to… help out Slytherin’s reputation out a little. It’s truly a shame you never ended up with us,’ she grinned. ‘it could have been very interesting.’ Harry wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he just went with:

‘Yes, it would definitely have been interesting.’ She smiled at him and patted Malfoy on the shoulder.

‘Draco, it was good to see you. Cut your hair.’ She smiled sweetly at both of them. ‘Bye now.’

‘Bye.’ Harry replied automatically while Malfoy grumbled something incomprehensible. ‘I think she’s right.’ Malfoy turned to him like he was surprised Harry was still there.

‘Excuse me?’

‘You should cut your hair.’ Harry clarified.

‘I don’t recall asking you anything.’ Harry rolled his eyes.

‘Well, I never asked _you_ to comment on _my_ hair, but you did that plenty of times.’ Harry was kind of proud he kept the bite out of his voice. ‘So, what did you get?’

‘What are you on about, Potter?’ Malfoy asked. His shoulders were still pressed against the wall, but Harry could have sworn he looked a little less tense.

‘Your NEWTs, c’mon Malfoy, keep up.’ Harry smirked and Malfoy seemed torn between going for his wand to hex him and… smiling? Was that the start of a smile? No, it was probably a grimace because Harry was awkward as hell.

‘You’re doing it again.’ Malfoy said as he handed over his parchment and snatched Harry’s from his hand. ‘That thing where you pretend we’re friends and we didn’t actively try to kill each other.’

‘That’s in the past, we were young and stupid.’ Harry tried to focus on Malfoy’s NEWT results, but he got distracted.

‘We’re still young and _you’re_ still stupid.’ The smirk on Malfoy’s face was like they were back in Hogwarts all over again, just without that edge that made it feel like he was trying to insult him.

‘Now see, that’s not right. Look at those.’ Harry said, pointing in the vague direction of his NEWT results. Malfoy did and then in a truly horrible mocking of Harry’s voice he went:

‘Now see, they’re not as good as mine. Look at those.’ With a wave of those stupidly pale, slim hands. Harry rolled his eyes and did.

_Ancient Runes Outstanding_

_Arithmancy Outstanding_

_Charms Outstanding_

_Defence Against the Dark Arts Outstanding_

_Potions Outstanding_

_Transfiguration Outstanding_

‘Holy shite Malfoy.’ Harry checked the list again just to make sure he’d read that right. ‘You’ve only got one less than Hermione and all Os too.’

‘Yes well, not everyone wants to be as big of a know-it-all as Granger.’ There was a little of the familiar venom. ‘And it’s not like I’ve had much else to do than study. Not all of us have to do interviews, get medals and sign people’s foreheads all day.’

‘I have never signed a forehead in my life.’

‘Ah, but the rest of it is true?’ Malfoy smirked.

‘Sod off, Malfoy.’ Harry said, but it lacked any heat. Huh. Banter. ‘I’m serious though, this is impressive. What are you going to do with these?’ He waved the parchment at Malfoy. His face sobered immediately. His smirk disappeared and his face went tight. He shrugged, a sharp little gesture. Every little bit that he had relaxed was gone now.

‘I haven’t decided.’ There was a challenging lit to his voice now. Like he wanted Harry to argue with him. ‘It’s not going to be easy to find someone willing to employ me with that whole deal.’ He motioned towards his left arm. Right. The Dark Mark, a permanent reminder of the war, of what he’d done or hadn’t done.

‘Well, you could always apply for the Auror programme with me and Ron.’ Now see, he usually didn’t have a problem with his Gryffindor-esque habit of just diving head first into something without thinking about it, but _this_ was an example of something he probably wouldn’t have said if he’d thought it through first. Another Gryffindor trait, however? Going backwards wasn’t really something they subscribed to, so forwards it was.

‘Are you actually out of your mind?’ Malfoy asked. His eyes wide. They really were grey, weren’t they? ‘You actually believe they’d let me be an Auror? _Me_?’

‘I would.’

‘Well yes, but I thought we’d established you are batshit insane.’

‘I makes sense.’ Harry defended. ‘You’ve got the NEWTs, you’re clearly smart.’ He waved the parchment at Malfoy. ‘You have practical experience,-‘

‘In losing.’ Malfoy sneered.

‘- you have actual experience with Dark Wizards, you know how they work, how they think. I say it’s an advantage.’ He was dealing with a Slytherin, he should play him like a Slytherin. ‘Also, it’s a very respectable job. It’d be good for your reputation.’

‘Are you trying to Slytherin me?’

‘Now that sounds vaguely dirty.’ Malfoy rolled his eyes so hard it had to hurt.

‘That’s gross, Potter.’ It was delivered in Malfoy’s usual haughty tone. ‘Just because you could have been a Slytherin, doesn’t mean I won’t know when you’re trying to manipulate me.’

‘It’s not manipulation, it’s just encouragement in a way that would appeal to you.’ Malfoy raised his eyebrows like he didn’t see the difference. ‘Just think about it.’ Harry held his hands out to the side. ‘The sign up for Auror training is in a week. You have to come to the Auror offices and sign in and then they do character and aptitude tests and they decide who will be allowed to start the training programme.’

‘Fine, I’ll think about it.’ Malfoy still looked unsure, like he thought there was no way it would ever work out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go! I'll post chapter 3 on Friday!
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


	3. The Test

Malfoy’s worries had not been unfounded. The second Malfoy had walked into the little office to sign up for the tests, the head Auror, Robards, drew his wand. Harry was so glad he’d gotten there early. Malfoy, to his credit, froze immediately.

‘Uh.’ Harry cleared his throat. ‘Sorry, sir. I suggested Malfoy could try and see if he could become an Auror.’ Harry fidgeted with the sleeve of his robe. Robards’ eyes flickered to Harry.

‘ _You_ figured a _Death Eater_ would be a good Auror?’

‘ _Former_ Death Eater and even that is questionable, since he was cleared of all charges.’ Harry said with a sheepish smile (the one that always worked) and he could feel Malfoy glare at him. Robards glared at him too. Great, he was already making friends. He did put his wand away, so that was good. He didn’t take his eyes off Malfoy as he spoke to what looked to be the other Auror there to administer the aptitude and character tests.

‘Get the Minister here.’ Oh great. Malfoy took a few tentative steps closer to Harry, his eyes still on Robards.

‘I hate that I let you talk me into this.’ Malfoy said in a low voice.

‘It’s going to be fine.’ Harry said, but it didn’t quite have the conviction he wanted it to have. Malfoy mumbled something he couldn’t quite catch.

The Minister appeared from the fireplace in the office looking tall and imposing and annoyed.

‘What in Merlin’s name is the problem here?’ He asked. ‘Robards?’ He prompted when no one immediately started to speak.

‘Malfoy here wants to apply to become an Auror.’ He said with clear disdain in his voice. Malfoy straightened up a little further, making Harry feel even more self-conscious about his slouching posture.

‘Is that so, mister Malfoy?’ Minister Shacklebolt asked. Harry could feel Ron’s tension next to him. Oh Merlin, Harry had really wormed himself into a tight corner now.

‘Yes, Minister.’ Malfoy said, making a good effort not to sound as snooty as he normally did when people didn’t treat him like he felt like he should be treated.

‘And how did you come up with this idea?’ Minister Shacklebolt asked. Malfoy glanced at Harry.

‘I suggested it would be a good fit for him.’ Harry spoke up and Minister Shacklebolt sighed.

‘Why am I not surprised you are involved in this. Why is it always you, Potter?’

‘It’s a talent?’ Harry offered and Malfoy looked at him, horrified. ‘Look, Minister, in your own words, I am an expert in Defence Against the Dark Arts, Malfoy is an expert in the Dark Arts. That could be very valuable, no? Or is there anyone else in the department who could give you the information he could?’ Harry asked innocently. Several mouths dropped open and Shacklebolt’s eyes narrowed.

‘You know, Potter, I never really saw the “could have been a Slytherin” thing before, but I see it now.’ Harry was pretty sure that was supposed to be some kind of insult, but he meant what he said, so he held his ground. ‘No one will want to work with him, have you thought about that?’ Harry didn’t like how they were talking about Malfoy like he wasn’t there.

‘Well, I would assume the Aurors are professionals and if he qualifies, would put themselves past that, but otherwise, _I_ would work with him.’ He shrugged. Ron elbowed him in the side, but Harry ignored him. ‘Look, Minister. I understand that this is a strange situation, but the Wizengamot cleared him, he was found not guilty. Should he not be allowed to go after a job he wants? Should he not show an interest in catching wizards hurting others?’ Shacklebolt turned to Malfoy.

‘ _Do_ you want this, mister Malfoy?’ He seemed surprised that he was actually being addressed.

‘I- Yes. I do. I have thought about it a lot since Potter suggested it and, well, I would like to help. I know how much damage has been done by people-‘

‘Like you?’ A voice near the corner sneered. Another one of the possible recruits. Harry didn’t know his name. Malfoy ignored him.

‘- like the ones still out there and I think I can help catch them. I was raised with these people, I know how they think, how they act when they’re under pressure, I know their tactics. I could be useful, Minister.’ Malfoy sounded so… earnest. When did he learn to do that?

‘Alright.’ Minister Shacklebolt said after a short pause. ‘Robards, let him take the tests, treat him like any other. If he passes, he can start, if he doesn’t, he won’t.’ He walked back towards the fireplace. ‘I don’t like it either, but Potter is right. He was found not guilty, he must be treated like any other candidate.’

‘I just love how they pretend I can’t hear every single word they’re saying.’ Malfoy mumbled. Harry huffed out a soft laugh.

‘I don’t know, I’m having a great time.’ They were saying he was right and everything. Malfoy rolled his eyes, then crossed his arms and shifted away from Harry.

The two assessors called the first Auror-hopeful inside and Ron immediately grabbed Harry’s arm and pulled him to a corner slightly away from everyone else.

‘What in the actual bloody fuck is going on with you Harry?’ He hissed as they got to the corner. Several of the others looked over at them funnily.

‘Okay first of all, keep your voice down. Second, we’ve been over this okay. You want to hold on to Hogwarts rivalries, you’re allowed to do that, but I don’t want to anymore. I want to try and get along with him because for Merlin’s sake Ron, haven’t we fought enough?’ Harry said in a low tone.

‘You and Hermione seem to just let go of everything he’s done to us, but I’m not like that-‘

‘And I never asked you to do anything, all I’m asking is to let me handle this how I want to handle it and not drag me off into a corner like you want to knock my teeth out.’ Harry said, still softly as the guy closest to them (he may have been a year above them at Hogwarts) was eyeing them suspiciously.

‘Fine, I still hate it.’ Ron pouted, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall.

‘I know you do.’ Harry sighed.

There were about fifteen people in the room. The split between witches and wizards was pretty equal, but ages seemed to range from just-out-of-Hogwarts to mid-thirties and there was also once wizard who seemed to speak French and about three sentences of English. Harry wondered if he’d gotten lost. They went by last name so Malfoy went before either Harry or Ron. He looked stoic and calm. Harry crossed his fingers and hid them in the sleeves of his robes.

No one really spoke to each other as they waited for their turn. It seemed that nerves didn’t make people chatty.

Harry really didn’t know what to expect, but he didn’t feel particularly nervous. He had been thinking about becoming an Auror for so long and people had always just assumed that’s what he would go on to do (if he survived the whole Voldemort business obviously) he just kind of expected this to go well. He felt like this had to go well, because, what else was he supposed to do? Fighting against the dark was what he had been expected to do since he was a baby, it’s what his parents had done. It’s what he would do.

The character and aptitude tests felt a little bit like an interrogation. They circled back to the same questions several times and put more and more pressure on him, trying to get him to admit he was lying or holding something back. Harry could feel his temper flare, but he bit his tongue as he knew that was exactly what they wanted. He managed to be only mildly sarcastic and he managed not to laugh at some of their more stupid questions. When he stepped out into the sunshine (him and Ron had agreed to go grab some dinner before heading home), he found himself squinting. It wasn’t sunny very often in London and Harry was glad he’d taken off his robes before he stepped out, because the sun actually had some warmth to it.

He searched around in his bag (he’d gotten a bottomless one, just like Hermione) for something to entertain himself with while he waited for Ron. He didn’t find anything, but it wasn’t necessary.

‘Well, have you decided?’ A posh voice interrupted his search. He looked up and found- well, what had to pass for Malfoy’s muggle version. He had taken off his robes, just like Harry and he was wearing a crisp white shirt with an actual tie and matching waistcoat, both in a dark, rich green. He was wearing slacks and shiny shoes and he looked expensive and… well, good. He _had_ actually cut his hair too, Harry hadn’t realized it before because he’d been focussed on other things.

Harry closed his mouth with an audible click. He suddenly felt underdressed in his jeans and hoodie.

‘What?’ Malfoy rolled his eyes.

‘I told you to think about what you wanted from me, so that I would not owe you anymore. But instead of letting me pay off my debt, you keep doing things for me and just adding to it.’ Harry blinked at his annoyed tone.

‘Are you- are you _mad_ that I said something in there?’ Harry asked. ‘They were being unfair. I would have done that for anyone.’

‘I know that, because you’re a stupid self-sacrificing Gryffindor, but I don’t _want_ to owe you, Potter.’

‘Is this some sort of stupid Pureblood thing? Like a life debt or something, because I don’t want anything from you. As far as I’m concerned we’re even.’ Harry couldn’t quite control the flare of annoyance, why did Malfoy always have to make everything so damn complicated?

‘Well I’m glad _you_ think so, but we’re not.’ Malfoy snapped. ‘It’s not a “stupid Pureblood thing”. You did not just keep me out of Azkaban, but my mother and my friends too. You made sure I knew I could take my NEWTs, you gave me an idea for a job and then you helped me get a fair shot at the tests, you keep helping me, and you wanting nothing in return is nonsense. The world doesn’t work like that.’

‘Well it does for me!’ Harry exclaimed.

‘What. Do. You. Want?’ Malfoy asked again. Harry threw his hands to the side in frustration.

‘ _Fine_. You can… pay me back for keeping you out of Azkaban by never using the M-word to describe Muggleborns again. You can pay me back for your mother and friends by never making fun of Ron’s family for being poor again. And you can pay me back for the Auror stuff by- fuck it I don’t know- by paying me one Galleon.’ Malfoy narrowed his eyes at Harry. ‘Would that satisfy your hurt pride?’

‘This is not about pride.’ Malfoy growled out, clearly still annoyed. ‘You just don’t _get_ it.’

‘No I don’t. I _don’t_ get it, because if you want to talk about debt, I owe you for trying to kill you in our sixth year.’ Malfoy rolled his eyes.

‘Oh please, Potter, don’t flatter yourself. We were trying to kill _each other_.’ He took a deep breath before continuing. ‘We’re even on that and if those are the things you want, I will do it.’

‘That’s what I want.’

‘Fine.’ Malfoy stuck his hand in his pocket and his hand emerged with a single Galleon pinched between his stupidly slim fingers. ‘There.’ He tossed the coin Harry’s way. He didn’t even fumble the catch, Seeker reflexes. Malfoy turned on his heel and headed down the street after tossing a final: ‘I will see you when the courses start.’

‘Wait, you got through?’ Harry called after Malfoy. No one had immediately told Harry if he’d been selected or not.

‘I would hope so.’ Malfoy said turning and walking backwards a few steps. ‘I was amazing. I’m an expert at being interrogated by now.’ He smirked before turning back around and heading off again. Harry found himself rolling his eyes at his retreating back, but also… smiling?

He was glad he’d gotten his face back under control when Ron came bounding out into the sunshine.

‘Mate! Wasn’t that super weird?’ Ron immediately asked. ‘It was just an interrogation, how is that supposed to tell them if we’ll be good Aurors or not?’

‘I don’t know.’ Harry shrugged. ‘I bet Hermione has a theory. Wanna grab some takeaway and ask her?’

‘Yes and no. I really want to go see her, but also, you know she’s going to either launch into a hour long lecture or she’s going to dive head first into research.’ Ron said as he started heading down the street. There was a great Chinese place only a few blocks away that Harry had introduced Ron to (technically he’d introduced Ron to Chinese food in its entirety, but those were semantics), so they headed over there.

They ordered the whole shebang and Harry paid for it because, as usual Ron forgot his Muggle money. Harry had taken to always carrying enough to at least buy them lunch/dinner because Ron _never_ remembered that he couldn’t pay with his wizarding money everywhere. Harry had been tempted to let him try so many times, just to see the faces of the poor people in whatever place they were in, but he’d resisted so far. One day though, one day.

They found a deserted alleyway and Apparated to the warded courtyard near Ron and Hermione’s place. They chatted about the weather and if maybe they could take a trip to the Burrow soon to have a little play around on their brooms. It wasn’t all that easy to find a place to fly in London.

They ditched their shoes and bags in the hall. Hermione appeared in the living room the second she heard their voices.

‘How did it go?’ She asked, wringing her hands together. Her hair was in a messy bun on her head and judging by the dried ink on her fingers, Harry would guess she’d spend her day researching.

‘I think it went good, but it was pretty weird honestly.’ Ron shrugged as he put the takeaway bags on the coffee table. Harry headed into the kitchen to grab some plates and cutlery. He could already hear Hermione asking a million and one questions about what exactly the assessors had asked them and if he thought he’d be accepted to the training programme.

‘How can they not accept him?’ Harry asked, handing both of them a plate. ‘He’s Ronald Weasley.’ Harry added with a grin.

‘Mate, if there’s anyone they can’t deny, it’s you. Harry bloody Potter, saviour of the wizarding world.’ Ron said it with enough humour that it didn’t make Harry’s skin crawl like it usually did when people called him that. He wanted to be just Harry so badly. ‘If they’re going to deny anyone it’s going to be Malfoy.’ Ron said, his face twisting into a sneer. ‘Pompous prick.’

Hermione ignored him and turned to Harry.

‘He actually showed?’

‘Yeah he did.’ Harry nodded. ‘He seemed calm going in.’

‘After Harry had to convince the Minister to actually let him do the test.’ Ron added, scooping a small mountain of rice onto his plate. Hermione raised her eyebrows at Harry.

‘They didn’t want to let him do the test?’ She asked, Harry could hear her social justice tone, but Ron clearly didn’t.

‘No, Robards even pulled his wand on him.’ He said with a small laugh. ‘It’s like the start of a bad joke: A Death Eater walks into the Auror offices-‘

‘It is not funny Ronald.’ Hemione said sharply. ‘He was cleared, he should be treated like any other.’ Harry threw a smug look in Ron’s direction.

‘That’s what I told the Minister.’ Harry said, trying to draw Hermione away from Ron. ‘The assessment was very strange though-‘ He started describing his own and how it hadn’t really felt like it would tell them anything about whether he’d be a good Auror or not.

He ended up Flooing back to his apartment near eleven feeling warm and calm and happy. He had learned though, that no matter how calm he felt before going to bed, he needed to take his small dose of Dreamless Sleep anyways, because the nightmares would come not matter how he felt before going to bed.

He should probably take a full dose so that he’d sleep through the night, but the drowsy feeling of the potion also made him anxious because he felt like he wouldn’t be ready if he was attacked. He wasn’t sure who he’d even be attacked by. No one except Ron and Hermione even knew he didn’t live at Grimmauld place and his wards wouldn’t allow anyone but them and Harry himself in, unless invited. It was just a giant pain all around.

He was tired of waking up in a panic searching for Ron and Hermione (and Neville and Ginny and Luna and so many more), convinced they were dead or in the process of being killed. The amount of times he’d already been halfway out of bed before he realized that he wasn’t in a forest or at Hogwarts or at Malfoy Manor. He’d banged his legs into the bedside table, his actual bed and the couch (that time he’d actually made it out of his bedroom before realizing where he was) and he’d taken to putting his wand in the drawer of his bedside table after nearly setting his curtains on fire.

He hoped that time would help him get better. If he had known this was the price he’d have to pay for defeating Voldemort, he would still have done it, of course he would have, but at least he would have known what he was getting himself into.

Maybe that was part of why he wanted to forgive Malfoy so badly and start over with him, because _Harry_ knew from his own experience that for most of the things he’d done, he’d been so young and so stupid and he regretted a lot of what he’d done. Especially the stuff he’d done in his sixth year. He’d thought he knew so much and that he was so mature and ready for what was out there and he couldn’t have been more wrong. No one was ever ready for war.

All that hatred and war were good for was destroying lives and Harry had seen enough of that for a lifetime. He just wanted to put it behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! I'll be back on Sunday with chapter 4, where we'll start Auror training!
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


	4. The Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the lovely comments!

Harry got accepted to the Auror training programme. So did Ron and apparently, so did Malfoy. Of the approximately fifteen witches and wizards that had been there for the assessment, eleven seemed to have been accepted to the actual training. According to Robards, probably only half would graduate. He did also point out that this was the biggest class they’d had in years. The programme had been shortened because of the losses they’d suffered during the war. They needed new Aurors. Several of the recruits were from their year, they’d fought in the Battle of Hogwarts and that seemed to be pretty much a guarantee that they’d at least let you start the training.

Their first day had them matched up in pairs of two. The immediate problem was, of course, that there was an uneven number of them. Now Harry, with his big mouth, had said that he’d work with Malfoy if no one else wanted to and _surprise_ no one wanted to be paired with Malfoy.

He didn’t seem bothered by that. He just stood there looking all proper in his expensive robes with his shiny hair and perfectly blank expression. Harry was impressed by his ability to appear unbothered. He’d probably been prepared for this.

Ron wasn’t happy when Robards actually made Harry pair up with Malfoy, but he also didn’t seem to want to argue with the man who would hopefully become his boss soon. He handed them off to another Auror to start their first course.

Harry realized quickly that a lot of their Auror training would consist of their instructors basically throwing them into the deep end and letting them figure it out themselves. Their first course was Concealment and Disguise.

He and Malfoy were dropped off somewhere on the outer edges of London and they had to find their way back without being caught by the Aurors send out to hunt them. Harry would have argued him and Malfoy were certainly at a disadvantage, considering there was no mistaking who that blonde hair belonged to.

It was a good thing Harry had come prepared. Contrary to popular belief, he did actually listen when people talked, and Tonks had mentioned this class sometime before- before- before she died. Harry stumbled as they headed down another small street.

‘Get it together, Potter.’ Malfoy snapped at him. Drawing Harry from his mild panic spiral.

‘I have it together.’ He snapped back before forcing himself to take a deep breath. ‘Look, both of us are much too recognizable, we need to do something about that.’

‘Thank you for pointing out the obvious.’ Harry clenched his jaw tightly in order not to bite out a nasty comment.

‘Can we just stop?’ Harry asked as he stopped in a shadowy part of the alley. ‘We’re both nervous, we need to get going, we only have an hour to get back to the offices.’

‘What we _need,_ is a plan.’ Malfoy said as he pulled out his wand. ‘We need to get back to the offices without Apparating or using the Floo network. We have an hour. I say we just walk in the front door, they won’t expect that.’

‘Walk in the front door?’

‘Yes, as long as you walk like you know where you’re going and like you’re supposed to be there, people generally don’t bother you.’ Malfoy said, as he automatically straightened his spine and tipped his chin up.

‘Okay, I can disguise you and you can do me.’ Malfoy was making a valiant effort not to snap at Harry again, judging by the colour high on his cheeks. He cleared his throat.

‘If you make me a ginger I will hex you.’ Malfoy decided on and when Harry laughed he swore he saw the corner of Malfoy’s mouth quirk up.

‘We should also take our robes off, blend in with the muggles.’ Harry proposed. Malfoy made a face, but he did take his robes off and handed them to Harry to put in his Bottomless Bag. He looked, yet again, more like a royalty than was really good for blending in. They weren’t supposed to stand out. Malfoy stood out. ‘Okay, you can’t wear that.’ Harry shook his head. ‘Take the waistcoat and the tie off and roll up your sleeves.’

‘This shirt is incredibly expensive and you want me to _roll up the sleeves_?’ Malfoy asked with raised eyebrows.

‘Are you saying you couldn’t afford a new shirt if this one is “ruined”?’ Harry asked with a smirk. Malfoy rolled his eyes and pulled up his nose.

‘Of course not.’ And he did what Harry told him to. He handed the other pieces of clothing off to Harry as well and he tried not to marvel over how _soft_ the clothes felt.

They spend a few minutes disguising each other. They used Glamours, so they weren’t technically changing their appearances, just putting a layer of magic over their faces that made them look different. The temptation to layer ginger over Malfoy’s blonde hair was pretty great, but he resisted, he was trying to make friends, not enemies. Instead he went with a shorter bob, about Hermione’s colour and texture. It usually helped to Glamour with things that you were actually familiar with, it helped picture it in your mind. He went for Neville’s nose and widened Malfoy’s chin in a way that reminded him of Charlie. He also cast a quick Glamour over the Dark Mark on Draco’s arm. The sight of it made him want to squirm uncomfortably, but he didn’t.

It was pretty good, Harry was of the humble opinion. Sure, if anyone looked too closely, they’d still see his eyes, which were immensely recognizable.

‘Do I do your eyes too?’ He asked. It was a little awkward like this, he had to get his wand right up in Malfoy’s face and try not to stare at the porcelain-esque skin.

‘Would you recognize them?’

‘Yes.’ Harry said without much hesitation. ‘They’re very pretty, I’d recognize them anywhere.’ The eyes in question widened slightly. The surprise was quickly wiped away for that mildly annoyed expression that seemed to be Malfoy’s default.

‘Well, then do something about it.’ He made an impatient motion with his hand. ‘We do not have time for this.’ Harry rolled his eyes and pictured Ron’s eyes.

Malfoy made quick work of his Glamours and he refused to tell Harry what exactly he’d done, so Harry was pretty sure he looked ridiculous.

They walked straight to the Ministry, pretending like there was nothing wrong the whole time, like they weren’t being chased by Aurors and to be fair. It worked. They actually passed two people that Harry was pretty sure were Aurors at one point, but neither of them reacted and they passed by them with ease. They arrived back at the Auror offices with fifteen minutes to spare and Harry was actually kind of proud of them.

Despite their little hiccup at the start, they’d worked together pretty seamlessly. They’d come up with the plan together, executed it together and they’d made it back, seemingly before anyone else.

‘Well done.’ Robards said with absolutely no emotion behind it. ‘First ones back.’ Malfoy was rebuttoning the sleeves of his shirt. ‘What did you use?’

‘Glamours.’ Harry said. ‘We used them on our face and then just made sure we blended in. Walked right in the front door.’ He handed Malfoy his waistcoat and tie.

‘Well done.’ Robards repeated before heading off.

‘Well, he’s enthusiastic.’ Harry murmured and Malfoy hummed in agreement.

‘I’m just surprised he didn’t say “well done _mister Potter_ ”.’ Malfoy said with an eyeroll. Harry sighed.

‘Coffee?’ He asked instead of diving into that.

‘The drab that they have here? No thank you.’ Malfoy pulled up his nose.

‘Fine, suit yourself.’ Harry shrugged as he headed into the communal lounge. The coffee there was terrible, but there was something about that that felt comforting. Plus, coffee was half the reason Harry managed to stay awake when he wasn’t running on adrenaline.

There was a strange sort of comfort in working with Malfoy. He assumed that he would have felt the same if he was working with Ron. It was comfortable because he knew how Malfoy would respond. He knew what would get him to roll his eyes, how he could goad him into snapping. He learned Malfoy’s strengths (for example, he was a damn good tracker) and his tells. They complimented each other in a strange, antagonistic sort of way.

Malfoy would snap at Harry if he tried to throw himself head-first into a situation and Harry would push Malfoy to be more daring. To not always stop to consider if something was the most beneficial move to make. Sometimes you needed to act.

In the courses that Malfoy struggled, Harry excelled and the other way around. They were strangely good together and Harry would not say it out loud, but they were kind of _friends_. Sure, they didn’t really hang out after training or anything, but they could have conversations now without getting to a point where they wanted to hex each other. He knew that Malfoy had a potions lab in his basement and that he had considered selling the Manor, but that his mother wouldn’t let him. Malfoy knew about Harry’s ongoing rivalry with the fat orange cat that belonged to his neighbour and liked to sneak into his kitchen and that Harry needed a steady supply of Dreamless Sleep. None of the more personal information was shared with intent, at least, not for Harry. It was just surprisingly easy to tell Malfoy things sometimes.

Malfoy dragged Harry through the Poisons and Antidotes training.

Harry flew through the Resilience training like it was nothing and Malfoy kept up.

Malfoy gave a far more interesting lecture on History of the Dark Arts than the instructor had given. Harry nailed his test.

Months passed, Malfoy turned nineteen and Harry got him (along with some help from George) a truly obnoxious birthday card that wouldn’t stop singing Happy Birthday until Malfoy actually said “Thank you, oh great birthday card” to the card. He refused for three hours. It was hysterical. Harry had even been able to add Malfoy’s name. “Draco” had felt a little weird on his tongue, but Malfoy’s face was worth it.

They dragged each other through the boobytrapped labyrinth they had to escape for Battle Instinct.

That night Harry had nightmares of the Triwizard Tournament labyrinth. He slept even less than usual.

Their next course was The Auror Advantage and Harry felt like his soul was about to fall from his body. He couldn’t focus. He’d had three cups of coffee and instead of waking him up like they usually did, they just made him feel like his brain was bouncing around uselessly in his skull. Like he wanted to bounce his leg and drum his fingers but his muscles just didn’t want to cooperate. Malfoy took one look at him and dragged him towards the back of the small conference room that they were to have today’s course in.

5 experienced Aurors were supposed to come give them a talk about protecting yourself in combat and how to know when your foe was weakest.

Malfoy pushed him down on the chair furthest in the back and disappeared. He came back about a minute (or five) later and shoved a large glass of water into Harry’s hands.

‘Drink.’ He ordered. Harry rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. The cold water was admittedly very nice and it actually made his mind feel a little clearer. When he’d downed the glass, Malfoy took it and replaced it with a big mug of tea that smelled like… well, kind of like a warm hug.

‘What’s this?’ Harry asked, taking another deep breath, trying to identify the tea.

‘It’s tea, Potter. You look like death, drink it.’ Malfoy sat down in the seat next to Harry, smiling sharply at Ron as he made an annoyed noise before worming his way between two other seats to get to the one on Harry’s other side.

‘Well yes of course it’s tea. What _kind_ of tea?’ Harry asked.

‘Something my mom used to make me when I’d had a bad night.’ Malfoy said and then he pointedly turned his eyes forward, even though the course hadn’t started yet. It was Malfoy’s “do not ask me any more questions” gesture and Harry had learned he could only push Malfoy on that so many times before he stopped talking altogether. He decided this wasn’t worth pushing over.

‘Harry, mate, you look awful.’ Ron said as he leaned in.

‘Wow everyone is making me feel _so_ good about myself today.’ Harry mumbled sarcastically, blowing into his mug, trying to cool the boiling water down to a point where he could drink it. ‘I had a rough night, I feel like shit.’ Harry said, shrugging his shoulders up a little higher, snuggling into the hood of his hoodie. It was a testament to how bad he looked that Malfoy hadn’t even commented on the oversized, obnoxiously red monstrosity Harry was wearing today. He normally never passed up on an opportunity to harp on Harry’s Muggle clothes.

‘Oh crap, it was the labyrinth wasn’t it.’ Ron asked softly. ‘Shit mate, I should have known that would be bad for you.’ Harry waved him off.

‘It’s fine, there’s nothing you could have done anyways.’ Ron looked like he wanted to say something else, but the last of their group of trainee-Aurors came hustling in just before their lectors for the day. There were seven of them left by this point and with them almost being done, it seemed like they would be the ones making it to Junior Aurors.

With the shortened training programme, they’d introduced the term Junior Auror. It meant that they had technically graduated, but that they still had to get more practical experience, which Harry found a little silly for the ones that had fought in the battle of Hogwarts, but he’d take it.

He took a sip from his tea. Oh. It didn’t just smell like a warm hug, it tasted like one too.

Amelia Frost smiled sheepishly at them as she found a seat. Harry liked her. She was a few years older than them, smart as a whip and a great dueller. She was also Ron’s trainee partner and had a talent for being _exactly_ on time.

The course was actually pretty interesting but Harry’s brain refused to focus for longer than a few minutes at a time. Luckily, Malfoy paid enough attention for the both of them. He seemed to know when to do that, sometimes he’d keep actual notes. Which Harry had told him reminded him of Hermione, which in turn made Malfoy look positively horrified. Harry just sat there in his seat in the back with his cosy sweater and his tea and tried not to fall asleep on the spot.

‘Was there some kind of Sleeping Draught in this?’ Harry asked, motioning with the mug as they headed from the room.

‘Of course not.’ Malfoy said with an eyeroll. ‘Just a small dash of a Calming Draught to counteract all of the horrible coffee you drank.’ Harry wanted to ask how he even knew Harry had drank all of that coffee, he hadn’t even been there, but Malfoy was already moving on. ‘I don’t think you missed much, this seemed like things you knew already. Except for the part where they said to strike whenever given the opportunity and not try to “discuss” until they were in custody.’

‘That was _one time_!’ Harry jabbed his finger in Malfoy’s direction, but he dodged it handily.

Ron chose that moment to swoop in and steal Harry away. Harry didn’t leave Malfoy’s side very often anymore. Harry’s presence meant that others left him be and when Harry _wasn’t_ nearby, sometimes fellow trainee’s or even fully-fledged Aurors would take the opportunity to make snide comments at him. Now Malfoy acted like it didn’t bother him, but Harry preferred to prevent it anyways.

Ron dragged him along to the couch at the back of the lounge. He flopped down on it and pulled Harry onto the cushion next to him.

Harry looked back to check if Malfoy was okay and to his surprise Amelia had come to stand next to Malfoy and she was smiling her serene smile at him. He looked a little uncomfortable, which meant she couldn’t be acting mean towards him. Whenever someone did that he’d look bored.

‘So, do you want to have dinner with Hermione and I today? You could stay over?’ Ron offered, drawing Harry’s attention away from Malfoy.

‘Yes to the dinner, no thank you to the sleepover.’

‘Harry-‘

‘Ron I know what you’re going to say, we’ve had this discussion a million times. Having someone else in the apartment doesn’t make my nightmares better, all it would accomplish is me bothering you and Hermione. I’m fine. I’ll take a little more Dreamless Sleep tonight so that I can catch up on the sleep I missed last night.’ He looked his best friend dead in the eye. ‘I’m fine.’

‘I still don’t like it.’ Ron crossed his arms and pouted. ‘I hate the idea of you being in that apartment all on your own.’ Harry sighed.

‘I know you do, but I think it might be good for me. To have a place that’s just mine. I’ve never had that before, I’ve always had to share. Maybe I just need some time.’ Harry shrugged helplessly. He didn’t know if things would ever be better for him, but he refused to make his friends’ lives more difficult than necessary.

‘It’s been close to a year.’ Ron argued.

‘We went through _a lot_.’ Harry pointed out and Ron sighed.

‘I know that, you more than any of us.’ Harry didn’t really agree on that, per se. ‘I’m just- I’m worried about you mate. You spend all of your time with Malfoy and you turn your back on him now without even thinking and at least once a week you come in looking like you didn’t sleep a wink and I just want you to be okay.’ Harry chose to focus on the first part.

‘Malfoy has done nothing to make me distrust him-‘

‘Except everything he did while we were at Hogwarts.’

‘-he’s helped me out when I needed it. I would not have passed the Poisons and Antidotes course without him. He’s actually _good_ at this, Ron. He’s a good Auror and a good partner. You don’t have to like him-‘

‘I wouldn’t be worried about _that_ happening.’

‘-but you could stop harping on him every chance you get. Has he been mean to you at all recently?’

‘He keeps smirking at me when I’m reminded that _he’s_ your partner and not me.’ Harry rolled his eyes at Ron’s petulance. If anyone ever dared to say that Gryffindors didn’t hold grudges, Harry would happily point them towards Ron.

‘Let me rephrase: Has he brought out the “blood traitor” thing or your family’s financial situation recently?’ Ron seemed to think about that for a second, probably scouring his recent memory to find an instance. He blinked a few times.

‘No.’ He eventually admitted. Harry wasn’t exactly about to mention that might be because Harry had asked him not to.

‘He’s _trying_ , Ron.’ Harry said. ‘And again, I’m never going to tell you that you have to forgive him, or that you have to be his friend or invite him for dinner, but you can _try_.’ Ron rolled his eyes but made a vague agreeing gesture.

‘Fine, but I reserve the right to tell you “I told you so” when things go tits up with him.’

‘Sure.’ Harry agreed. ‘Now, are we doing pizza tonight?’

‘Nah mate, Hermione is cooking.’ Ron grinned. ‘Her mom’s lasagne.’

‘That’s better than pizza,’ Harry grinned back. ‘and there’s very little that’s better than pizza.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I think I'll post the next chapter tomorrow! Keep the posting days the same, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday. 
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


	5. The Graduation

Their graduating class was dubbed the Post War 7. They were the largest graduating Auror class since the First War. It consisted of Harry, Ron and Malfoy and:

Amelia Frost who was very capable. When you first met her, you’d think she was too sweet to be an Auror, but Harry had seen her in practice interrogations and she could be vicious. She’d been a Hufflepuff back in Hogwarts and as Harry had learned pretty quickly, badgers were _scary_ when they got mad.

Shawna Baez, she was an American witch who had moved to London after a falling out with her parents. She’d worked for MACUSA (the American version of the DMLE) before she moved to London and she’d completed the Auror training programme with little difficulty.

Theo Gaulding, who was a grade A asshole. He was arrogant and convinced he was Merlin’s gift to the Wizarding world. Unlike Malfoy’s occasional arrogance, Gaulding’s wasn’t charming. He’d take the credit for the work of others and he loved to remind people his father worked high up in the DMLE. Harry despised him, especially because Malfoy was his favourite target to take advantage of.

And finally, Grant Blueroot, who was a bit of a strange fellow, smart as a whip, but very quiet. He’d been paired with Gaulding for most of his Auror training (after Gaulding’s first partner had ran screaming) and he mostly let the loudmouthed wanker walk all over him. Malfoy compared him to Goyle, but smarter. 

Together they formed the first Post Second War graduating class. They were all given the title of Junior Auror and the Head Auror, Robards, would decide when they would be promoted to fully-fledged Aurors.

At their graduating ceremony, they were given the traditional scarlet Auror robes. Harry smirked and leaned over to Malfoy.

‘Gryffindor red.’ He whispered and if looks could kill, Harry would have dropped dead on the spot.

It wasn’t until the ceremony (which lasted about thirty minutes too long as far as Harry was concerned) was over and their group had moved to a nearby Wizarding pub that Harry got a few seconds alone with Malfoy. Malfoy dragged them to a table in the back corner of the pub as Ron and Amelia veered off to get the first round. Baez and the other two had gotten stopped as soon as they entered the pub by what seemed to be Gaulding’s father. The Weasley family was there too and Hermione would be joining them a little bit later.

‘Congratulations.’ Harry grinned at Malfoy as he shimmied onto the bench to sit next to him. It had become a habit of his to form a little barrier between Malfoy and the others. Amelia usually sat on his other side.

‘You too.’ Malfoy looked at his scarlet robes and for a second Harry could see the disbelieve and the emotion on his face before he smoothed it out again. ‘Now I just have to hope and pray to Merlin that they don’t keep me a Junior Auror until I’m a week from retiring.’

‘That’s not going to happen.’ Harry said with as much conviction as he could muster. Their badges were a little different from proper Auror badges, that just had a large A on a silver badge, theirs said JA. ‘We’re young, so it might be a year or so, but they’ll promote us when we prove we’re ready.’

‘They’ll promote _you_ and Weasley.’ Malfoy sounded bitter. Harry wanted to say he was overreacting, but to be fair, Robards still barely looked at Malfoy. Any praise for their pair was usually aimed at Harry, no matter how many times he redirected the praise to Malfoy, it wasn’t the same.

‘I’m not going anywhere without you.’ Harry said and Malfoy looked at him for a few seconds, a strange look on his face.

‘You are a weird creature Harry Potter.’ Malfoy said cryptically before he glanced at his robes again and flinched. ‘Merlin, I wish they would have made the Junior Auror robes a different colour. Red does not go well with my complexion.’ Harry rolled his eyes.

‘Would you relax, you look fine.’

‘Oh wow, “fine” what a truly spectacular compliment.’ Malfoy sassed.

‘Don’t be dramatic.’ Harry said.

‘Easy for you to say, red is a great colour for _you_.’ Malfoy said accusingly. Harry just rolled his eyes and watched as Ron tried to carry four beers without spilling anything.

Harry kind of liked the robes. They had been given the ceremonial one and would get their daily one later. They were not obligated to wear the daily robes, especially when they were on cases/ missions that were supposed to be low-key, the red was not subtle at all. They _were_ “encouraged” to “dress respectably”, at which Malfoy had thrown a pointed look in Harry’s direction.

The ceremonial robes were very nice, probably the nicest pieces of clothing Harry had ever worn, even Malfoy didn’t complain about the quality, just the colour. They were scarlet with a band of white around the edge, coming together over the breastbone. The sleeves came down to their elbows and were lined with gold thread. The robes had actual tails that made Harry feel extra fancy. Underneath, they’d been given a dark grey, long sleeved, high collared shirt and a gold coloured waistcoat. The pants were beige and pretty plain and the whole shebang was finished off with soft brown boots.

For the first time, Harry had actually felt like a proper Auror.

He had taken most of the fancy stuff off before they came out to the pub (unlike Gaulding who was still strutting around in his full outfit). He didn’t want to spill beer on them, so he’d taken the robe and the waistcoat off. The grey shirt would soon be too warm, but he’d cross that bridge once he got there.

‘Now that it’s been confirmed that they want us to dress respectably while we’re on the job, you really need to let me take you to go buy some decent clothes.’ Malfoy said as Ron weaved between the last few people between him and the table.

‘There is nothing wrong with my clothes!’ Harry exclaimed as Ron managed to get the glasses down without sloshing anything over the edges.

‘Harry, mate, you know I love you, but your clothes aren’t exactly professional.’ Harry let his mouth drop open.

‘Are you agreeing with Malfoy?’ Harry asked, because he knew that was a sure-fire way to get Ron to do a 180. Ron narrowed his eyes, like he knew exactly what Harry was doing.

‘No, I am making a completely separate point.’

‘That just so happens to be the same as mine.’ Malfoy added with a smirk. He had taken off the red robe, but he’d left the waistcoat on and he looked _expensive_. He usually did, but there was something about the gold with Malfoy’s skin colour that made him look silver.

Harry picked up his beer and motioned for Malfoy to do the same. Amelia slid onto the bench next to Malfoy and picked up the fourth beer.

‘Cheers, to us.’ They all clanked their glasses together and chorused:

‘To us.’ The beer was smooth and made him feel warm from the inside.

Ron drew Harry into a conversation and he found himself truly relaxing for the first time in what felt like forever. Malfoy’s shoulder was pressed against his in a way that now felt comfortable, the humming of conversations going on around them and the taste of beer on his tongue was beyond nice.

After thirty minutes, George and Ginny came along. Ginny had been allowed to leave Hogwarts for the weekend in order to come see her brother’s graduation. Ginny grinned at him and stole what was left of his beer. Harry didn’t protest, it would be futile.

‘Look at you boys, all grown up.’ She said and handed Harry his empty glass back.

‘Thanks Gin.’ Harry said with a sigh. ‘Anyone else want a refill?’ He asked, shooing Ron out of the way to get out of their booth.

‘Please.’ Ron said and Ginny made a motion Harry interpreted as “I’d like one of my own or I’ll drink yours again”. Malfoy and Amelia didn’t reply so Harry shrugged it off and went to get three new beers. It wasn’t until he started to make his way back, floating the beers in front of him (seriously Ron, magic?) that he noticed how close Amelia was sitting to Malfoy.

Now, the booth was pretty small and with the addition of George the booth _was_ a tight fit. Still, there was something in the way that she was looking at him that made something uncomfortable bloom in Harry’s stomach. He focussed on not dropping the beers and setting them down gently. Ginny had pulled up a chair and Ron allowed Harry to slink past him back to his old seat.

‘-so, I think that they should let you make the robes green. You’d look so good in green, and what does it really matter?’ Amelia said with a high, tinkling little laugh. For some reason it made Harry’s shoulders go tight.

‘I don’t think Robards would agree.’ Malfoy said, his voice was smooth as always, but there might have been something uncomfortable under it. Or maybe Harry was imagining it.

‘Well, you can pull anything off, of course but-‘ Harry made himself stop listening to them, but he could feel that his face was frowning a little. He made eye-contact with Ginny across from him. She raised her eyebrow at him and threw a pointed look in Amelia’s direction. He shrugged at her but she didn’t seem to be convinced.

‘Oh gosh!’ Ginny suddenly said loudly, interrupting Amelia in the middle of a sentence. ‘I just realized we haven’t even introduced ourselves. Ron! This is your partner right? Come on, introduce us.’ She demanded. Ron seemed confused, but did as he was told. Good call.

‘Amelia, this is my sister Ginny and that’s my brother George.’ He said gesturing at the siblings in question. ‘Guys, this is Amelia Frost.’

‘Hello there.’ George said with a lopsided grin. Harry hadn’t seen that grin much since- since Fred. It was good to see. ‘So you’ve been dragging our little brother through his training, huh?’ He asked.

‘I- I suppose?’ She said, looking a little rattled for maybe the first time since Harry had met her. Huh.

‘Oh! Mom said that she would love to meet you. Come on, let’s go find her, I’m sure she’s around here somewhere.’ Ginny said with a bright grin, but also very much a grin with an edge of “do not bother arguing with me”. Harry knew that grin very well. Ron shrugged and got up.

‘I do remember her mentioning something like that. Do you mind?’ He asked. Amelia glanced at Malfoy.

‘Well, we were just having a conversation…’

‘I don’t mind.’ Malfoy said with a plain smile.

‘Oh, well, alright then.’ She shuffled out of the booth after George and Ginny and disappeared into the crowd with Ron trailing after them.

The silence between Malfoy and him hadn’t felt awkward like this in a long while.

‘So, uh, I didn’t see your mother at the graduating ceremony.’ Harry said, shifting in his seat a little. Now that there was so much space in the booth it felt a little weird to be sitting so close to Malfoy, but putting space between them now also felt weird. So Harry just stuck to wiggling his leg and turning his beer glass between his hands.

‘She didn’t feel comfortable just walking into the Auror’s offices and also, she is technically still on house arrest, so.’ Malfoy said. He did actually shift away from Harry, but only to turn so he could face him, leaning one elbow on the back of the booth. Harry shifted around to go sit in a similar position, it was much more comfortable than twisting his neck. Harry had already undone the top few buttons of his shirt, but he started working on his sleeves now. It was warm in this place. He rolled them up to his elbows.

‘I thought her house arrest should have been over by now?’ Harry asked, trying to do the math in his head.

‘It was, but the Wizengamot extended it by another six months.’ Malfoy said with clear distain in his voice. ‘Apparently they’re not convinced she’d been fully “reformed” even though she hasn’t put a toe out of line since she was put on house arrest.’ Harry frowned.

‘That’s stupid.’ Malfoy actually huffed out a laugh.

‘Yes, it is most certainly stupid, among other things.’ Malfoy said. ‘It’s okay though, I’m going to see her at dinner. I think she has prepared something special.’ He titled his head, this hair was falling out of its carefully constructed style. Normally he would already have redone it with a spell by now, but maybe the beer had actually loosened him up a little. ‘She was very specific in what time I needed to be home.’ Harry should tell him about his hair, he couldn’t go back to his mother like this. Harry could just push the rebelling strands back into place… well, the beer was surely making _Harry_ loosen up.

He trapped his one hand under his leg and tangled the other back into his own hair so his treacherous fingers wouldn’t reach out and do it. They’d been doing so well in the friends department, the last thing Harry needed to do was something stupid while he was feeling the hum of the beers.

‘That’s nice.’ Harry said, far too late. Draco raised a singular, sharp eyebrow at him. ‘I’m supposed to head over to the Weasley’s for dinner.’ He added, he could feel the urge to babble come on, so he bit his lip to stop himself.

‘Well, have fun with that.’ Malfoy said with a smirk. ‘I should be heading home.’ His smirk softened just a little and Harry was tempted to call it an actual _smile_. ‘Thank you for inviting me.’ Technically Harry had invited everyone, but he had the idea that might be what Draco meant.

‘Of course.’ Harry smiled back at him. ‘Tell your mother I said hi.’ Malfoy raised another eyebrow, but didn’t comment on it.

‘Sure, I will see you on Monday.’ Malfoy said before turning around and heading out of the bar. Harry was startled out of watching his partner leave by a body bumping into him from the left. He turned to see who it was and he caught a flash of ginger hair.

‘So, this Amelia, how do we feel about her? She was clearly flirting with Malfoy. God knows why, but I don’t think he was interested, even though she is pretty.’ Now that Ginny mentioned it, Amelia _was_ pretty in a very soft kind of way. She was a few years older than them, Harry was pretty sure she was twenty two, but that wasn’t a big deal. Her hair was a warm brown, always waving gently over her shoulders. She had big, round eyes in an equally soft brown colour. She was always smiling. She was sweet and capable and she was never nasty towards Draco. ‘-so I’m not sure how I feel. Harry? _Harry?_ ’

‘Sorry what?’ Ginny rolled her eyes at him.

‘Amelia Frost,’ She said with great emphasis. ‘how do we feel about her?’

‘Oh, sorry. I think she’s nice. A good Auror.’

‘Just a questionable taste in men?’ Ginny asked, but it wasn’t her normal good-natured teasing. There was a genuine curious undertone to it.

‘Malfoy is not that bad.’ Defending Draco was like second nature to him by now. ‘He’s really changed.’ Ginny hummed.

‘I will admit he didn’t say a single nasty thing to any of my family while he was here.’ She pursed her lips. ‘But I’m not convinced. Ron has a conspiracy theory that Malfoy is hypnotising you or has you under Imperius.’ Harry rolled his eyes.

‘I can break out of Imperius.’

‘That’s your defence?’ She asked with a grin.

‘And he wouldn’t do that.’ Harry added, drawing a laugh out of Ginny. He realized with a start that he’d missed her. He’d missed her no-nonsense approach to him. He missed her sharp eyes and her brutal honesty. Even though it had become clear very quickly that they weren’t going to work out as a couple, Harry was so glad they were still friends. ‘How has Hogwarts been?’

‘Weird.’ Ginny said, making a face. ‘It’s very strange to be the only Weasley there, first of all. Also, even though the castle has been repaired, it’s like you can still feel what happened. Some of the older students who were involved in the battle have nightmares, there’s a few repeat seventh years that are really struggling, you can just _tell_ something has changed.’ She took a deep breath. ‘But things are better as well. The houses are actually more kind towards each other, even Slytherin, although that is a work in progress, what you said has really been taken to heart.’ She smiled at him.

‘I’m glad to hear that.’ He said honestly. He had not even considered how his words would effect Hogwarts, but with McGonagall as Headmistress he wasn’t surprised things would have changed.

‘And I’m glad you seem to be doing okay.’

‘I’m better, still not great, but better.’ Harry admitted.

‘I know, step by step.’ Ginny said, she put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed. ‘You’ll be fine, young wizard.’ She said with a strange accent, making Harry laugh.

‘Especially once you become a professional Quidditch player and get me free tickets to all of your games.’ Harry grinned. She laughed.

‘Oh please, I have a billion family members that want my free tickets. _You_ have enough money to _buy_ a ticket, and otherwise you could ask Malfoy, they still have plenty of money right?’ She asked, tilting her head. Harry shrugged.

‘I think so.’

‘He’ll buy you a ticket.’ She said with a smirk Harry didn’t quite understand.

‘ _Okay_ , well I can also pay for a ticket myself.’ She rolled her eyes.

‘Well of course you can.’ Ginny pushed herself out of the booth. ‘You could even buy a ticket for you _and_ Malfoy.’

‘Are you saying I should bring Malfoy to one of your games for an as-of-yet undetermined pro-Quidditch team?’ Harry asked, also sliding himself from the booth.

‘Finally he catches on.’ She grinned. ‘Now come on Saviour, time to head to dinner.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I'll be back on Wednesday. If you want to see the art that I am basing the Auror uniforms off it's this: https://boaillustration.tumblr.com/post/158822344785/i-read-a-lot-of-auror-case-fic-recently-and-wanted
> 
> It's amazing!
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


	6. The First Case

Things were not as simple as Harry hoped they would be once they became Junior Aurors. They kept most of the pairings they’d had before, keeping Harry paired with Draco. Robards may have suggested that was so that Harry could “keep an eye on” Draco. It was stupid. How many more times would the guy have to prove himself before they believed he was not a danger to anyone except the bad guys?

As Junior Aurors, they were mostly kept either at their cubicles doing investigative work, or they were send out to do the tasks the actual Aurors didn’t want to do. It was both nice and frustrating. Nice because Harry was being treated like all the other Junior Aurors and frustrating because he really wanted to actually get his own proper case.

Draco seemed to have accepted early on that this was what their lives would be for the foreseeable future. He was also better at research than Harry was. At least, he had more _patience_ for research than Harry did, he was more methodical. Harry would argue he had better instincts than Draco did, but for what they were doing now? Draco was a better fit.

Their first ever outing on their own was to an elderly lady who had contacted the DMLE convinced that her gardening supplies had been stolen by “those hoodwinks dressed in dark clothes”. They were met at the door by Marguerite. She had to have been pushing ninety and the home was like a furnace. They’d both been wearing their proper daily Auror robes, long grey pants, dark grey boots and a red coat with a triangular flap that could be fastened at their left shoulder with dark panels running along the top of their sleeves. They looked like they meant business. Too bad those outfits were _not_ designed to be worn in the _sauna_ that was Marguerite’s home.

They found her gardening tools in the shed behind her home.

That was their first case together.

Since then they’d been to Mister Robins whose fence had been broken by a murderous creature trying to steal his pumpkins (a fat, golden retriever that had bashed into the fence while trying to fetch a ball). Ms Hartley who was convinced her cherry pie had been poisoned by Pixies (it was not, she’d just used milk three months past it due by date). The Shawling family, whose pet toad had been kidnapped (it was found by the pond in their backyard) and little Helena who was six and had her child sized broomstick stolen by Goblins (the twin boys of her neighbour). Now they were admittedly little shits, but not exactly what Harry had in mind when he’d decided to become an Auror.

But, he and Draco handled it all with grace (Draco more than Harry) and patience (Draco more than Harry) and a sense of humour (Harry more than Draco, finally _something_ he was better at).

Their days were long, spend digging through lists of Portkey requests to find the singular one made by a fugitive wizard, through lists of potions sales looking for an incredibly specific combination of ingredients and searching an entire house top to bottom looking for a singular golden ring that had been Transfigured into _something_.

The first big case the Aurors caught, they invited Harry to sit in on the briefing. Draco was pointedly _not_ invited. Harry tried to argue, but Draco quickly shut him up and shoved him into the briefing. It happened like that twice more before Harry put his foot down. Nine months after they’d started officially working as Junior Aurors.

‘Potter, in here.’ Robards ordered as he marched past their cubicles with an extra serious expression on his face. Robards always looked serious, but in gradations. This was heading towards his “someone died” look. Harry pushed himself away from his desk and out of his chair, grabbing his coat from the back of the rolling chair (one muggle invention Harry insisted on having in the office).

‘Come on.’ He told Draco, who rolled his eyes.

‘Are we really having this discussion again?’ Draco asked. He was wearing an almost pearly white shirt today and it made him look ethereal. Sometimes Harry wondered who exactly he got dressed like that for.

‘You have to be a Slytherin here Malfoy, you want to be there, so be there.’ Harry said as he shrugged his coat on.

‘I am being a Slytherin, I’m being smart about it. I’m doing as they tell me so that they’re going to trust me.’ Draco said, but he twisted his chair towards Harry.

‘You have to prove that they can trust you and you have to be there to do it, but they won’t let you be there because they don’t trust you. You have to break the cycle. Now _come on_.’ Harry pushed. Draco clenched his jaw, but Harry could see he was getting to him. Logic was always the way to go.

‘I hate this new Wise Potter thing you have going on.’ Draco groaned as he stood and grabbed his own Auror coat. They hurried towards Robards office where the intel would be shared. Robards raised a single eyebrow as Harry came into the room _with_ Draco, but Harry just stared back defiantly. Robards didn’t comment as he started the briefing. Harry threw Draco a self-satisfied smirk, he rolled his eyes.

A little girl had gone missing from a crowded street in a Wizarding village. Six years old, named Millie, curious little girl. It could range from “she got lost” to “she’d been kidnapped” to “she wandered into something dangerous” and they needed to act fast. There were two Auror teams there plus Harry and Draco. The two Senior Auror teams were sent to the scene while Harry got a map of the area shoved into his hands and they were told to search the map for anything that could be easy to miss in a search.

Harry didn’t allow himself to feel frustrated. There was a child missing and she needed their help.

Harry moved into the small conference room so that he could spread the map out on the big table in there. The office was fairly quiet, Ron and Amelia were out of the office today searching through the ingredients that were found in an illegal potions lab. He didn’t know where Gaulding and Blueroot were, probably off somewhere doing paperwork. Baez was out with her Senior Auror partner. She’d been immediately moved up to them on the account of her prior experience.

‘Okay, are you familiar with this area?’ Harry asked, spreading out the map and grabbing a red marker from the little penholder and circling the little girl’s last known location. Draco came to stand next to him, bumping his hip against Harry’s as he leaned forward on his elbows. He traced his index finger along the street where the girl had disappeared from.

‘I’ve been there before, but I don’t quite remember why. The name is familiar though.’ Draco said as he followed the road into the town. It looked like it was the small town’s main road, there were little shops marked alongside it.

‘If she went this way she could have ended up in the forest.’ Harry said, tracing his finger along a small alleyway between two buildings that would lead to the woods that the village backed into. Harry took out his wand and circled the alleyway. It would give the Aurors on the scene a little notification.

‘This way would lead her into a residential area.’ Draco mused. ‘But someone is more likely to find her there.’

They spend a few minutes studying the map when suddenly Harry felt Draco go tense next to him.

‘What?’ Harry asked immediately.

‘I remember why I know this town.’ His hands suddenly darted over the map, he traced along a sideroad. His fingers hesitating over what looked to be an empty plot of land. ‘There.’

‘What’s there?’ Harry pressed. ‘Malfoy, c’mon, elaborate.’

‘An old Death Eater safehouse. They’re warded to all high heavens, hidden.’ Draco said on a heavy exhale. ‘I think my father took me there once when I was a kid. I remember him telling me that children could often go through the wards without problems because they hadn’t grown into their magic yet. Therefor the wards don’t recognize them as wizards, but more like… magical animals.’

‘Well, let’s go!’ Harry slipped his wand in the holster along his forearm and started heading to the door.

‘Wait, shouldn’t we let the others know first before he head there?’ Draco was stood turned towards the door, but with his hand still on the map, like he’d taken a few steps and then stopped himself.

‘Are you really going to risk someone else taking the credit for this. Come on.’ Harry said, motioning for Draco to move. ‘We can tell them once we get there, they’ll have to let us help. Plus, taking these wards down would be easier for you, right?’

‘Probably.’ Draco gave in and followed Harry from the door to the Apparating point. Harry hated Apparating and he avoided it whenever possible, but there was no time right now.

‘Would she be in danger?’ Harry asked as he fumbled with the golden button, trying to fasten his coat properly.

‘Yes. These safehouses often have curses all over them.’ Malfoy was using his long legs to gain a speed advantage over Harry so he had to jog several paces to keep up with him. Harry didn’t complain like he usually would.

Apparating was as nauseating and inside-twisting as always.

The little town they appeared in looked dreary underneath the grey clouds and it had the feeling of panic in the air.

‘Are we going to find Robards now?’ Draco asked, but he sounded like he already knew the answer.

‘Let’s make sure it’s there first.’ Harry said and Malfoy sighed but he started leading Harry down a street.

‘If this gets me fired I am going to be very upset.’ Malfoy muttered when Harry caught up with him.

‘We’re not going to get fired.’ Harry said. ‘ _When_ we find the girl.’

‘ _If_ we find the girl.’

‘ _When_.’ Harry repeated firmly.

‘I hate you.’

‘No you don’t.’ Harry was surprised at the amount of confidence he felt saying that.

‘Merlin knows why.’ Draco groaned as he turned the corner. Harry walked at a brisk pace and that’s probably why it took him a second to realize Draco had stopped walking. They’d been moving past a tall hedge and Harry hadn’t noticed anything, but Draco clearly had.

‘It’s here?’ Harry asked, taking a few steps back towards Draco. Suddenly he felt it, the thrum of magic. ‘Oh yeah, it’s here.’

‘I will need to take down the wards, you should not try to go through them they would hurt you.’ Draco said firmly.

‘But not you?’

‘No, not me.’ Before Harry could ask why Draco motioned at the inside of his left arm. ‘The magic recognizes the Dark Mark, that’s why it was much easier for me to find.’

‘Could you go through the wards and get her out?’ Harry asked. ‘We can deal with dismantling the house itself later?’

‘You- you want me to go get the child _on my own_?’ Draco asked with an uncharacteristic stutter. ‘I don’t know what to do with a child.’ His grey eyes were wide and he looked horrified. Harry rolled his eyes.

‘Kids are just little adults, you are _rescuing_ her. She’ll leap into your arms, it’ll be fine.’ Harry tried to reassure him. ‘I will go run back into the town and get Robards so that he can yell at me as I take him here and you can get the kid.’ Harry tried to move away, but Draco grabbed his sleeve.

‘But- but what do I even say to her?’

‘Uh, “hi there Millie, my name is Draco and I’m here to get you back to your mum”?’ Harry offered, tugging lightly to get his arm loose from Draco’s death grip.

‘What if she hates me?’

‘Malfoy- Draco, seriously. She’s a child, she is not going to care what you’ve done before or what your last name is, she’s probably in there and she just wants to go home. Now go get her.’ Harry said firmly. Draco let go of Harry’s arm with a start.

‘Okay, okay, fine.’ Harry made a shooing motion at him. ‘Alright, I’m going.’ Draco took a deep breath before stepping forwards towards the bushes and disappearing.

Okay, now for the not-so-fun part: telling Robards they’d left the office on a hunch without telling him. Harry jogged back to the main street. It wasn’t hard to find the trio of Aurors that included Robards (the advantage of the red robes). Harry knew exactly when Robards spotted him because his face went from “I am mad” to “What in the actual hell are you doing here?!” 

‘Potter-‘ Robards said in that warning tone that always made Harry feel like shrinking in on himself.

‘I think we’ve found the girl.’ He blurted before Robards could start ranting. ‘There’s an old Death Eater safe house only just around the corner, it’s warded to the high heavens. Malfoy is looking for her right now, he can pass through the wards because of the-‘ Harry waved at his left arm. ‘He is the quickest option in there.’ Harry said, holding his hands out in a placating gesture.

‘If she is not there, I am putting you two on desk duty until you’re thirty.’ Robards growled out before marching towards Harry. He took at as his clue to lead them there.

‘Yes sir.’ Harry didn’t ask what he’d do if she _was_ there. That seemed counterproductive.

Harry lead them down the side street and made sure to pay close attention so that he wouldn’t miss the hum of the wards this time. He stopped when he felt them.

‘Potter,’ Robards said dangerously. ‘there’s nothing here.’

‘It’s the wards, sir. They’re hiding the building.’ God Harry _really_ hoped they were right about this. He did not want to do nothing but paperwork until he was thirty. That would suck.

Luckily, they only had to stand there awkwardly for about thirty seconds before the hedge rustled and Draco appeared, speaking softly to a little girl with huge blue eyes and blond braids. He froze when he saw Robards, Harry and the other two Aurors.

‘Uh… I found her?’ He offered and Harry bit his lip, hard, to stop himself from laughing. Robards sighed.

‘Proudfoot, Dawlish, go find the mother.’ He ordered and the two Aurors scurried off after a final disbelieving look at Draco with the little girl on his hip.

‘Hey there Millie.’ Harry said with a grin as he approached her. There were tear tracks on her little round cheeks, but she wasn’t actively crying. Draco was holding her a little awkwardly, but securely. ‘Are you hurt anywhere, sweetheart?’ She shook her head as her bottom lip wobbled. ‘Okay, that’s good to hear. Should we go find your mommy?’ She nodded so hard one of her braids slapped Draco in the face. He blinked twice but didn’t say anything.

They started heading down the street, Robards marching ahead of them with a slightly less murderous expression on his face. Harry knew exactly when the mother spotted her daughter.

‘Oh Millie!’ She called out and the girl let out a sob and then started _bawling_. Draco’s eyes widened to a comical size and Harry motioned for him to put the girl down. He quickly did and she sprinted towards her mum as fast as her little legs could carry her. They followed her at a more subdued pace.

They waited as mother and daughter both sobbed and spoke in half-sentences for a few minutes. eventually the mother wiped her cheeks and picked up her daughter, setting her on her hip as she got up from where she’d been kneeling on the ground.

‘Thank you so much.’ She said, her voice still a little shaky.

‘Of course, we were happy to help.’ Harry said and it seemed like that was the moment where the mother really _looked_ at him for the first time.

‘Oh, you’re Harry Potter.’ Harry forced himself to smile.

‘Yes, ma’am and this is my partner, Draco Malfoy. He’s the one who found Millie.’ He smiled at the girl as he said it and she nodded her head vigorously. The mother blinked a few times, she clearly also recognized Draco’s name, but then she smiled carefully.

‘Well thank you, both of you.’ She held out her free hand and Harry let Draco move forward first. She shook his hand and then Harry’s and then she moved off into the village.

And that was that. The first proper case they’d solved together. Harry wanted to grin and poke at Draco until he laughed and then go have a Firewhisky to celebrate, but Robards was still there, so Harry held his tongue.

‘Well, I suppose I should say “good job”, just know that the next time you pull a stunt like this I _will_ make sure you don’t leave the office again for the next ten years.’ Robards smiled. That was usually worse than when he glared. ‘As a reward for your actions today, you two get to stay behind and take down the wards _and_ de-curse this mysterious Death Eater safe house. I want your reports done by Monday and I’m sending someone by here tomorrow morning to check if you finished the house.’ Before they could respond he marched off.

‘That sounds more like a punishment than a reward.’ Harry made a face at Robards retreating back.

‘I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be.’ Draco said with a sigh.

‘Hey,’ Harry bumped his shoulder into Draco’s (well, more like his upper arm, those few stupid inches he had on Harry were really annoying). ‘we found the girl.’

‘I suppose, but now it’s Friday and we have to finish this house before we get to go home and then we’ll have to write our reports on the weekend. Now _I_ have no problem with this obviously, but I know how pouty you get when you don’t get to relax on the weekend.’

‘Hey!’ Harry protested. ‘I do not pout.’

‘You most certainly do.’ Draco said pulling his nose up. ‘Now before you argue, let’s go start on this house.’

‘After we finish, you and I are getting drinks.’

‘Are we?’

‘ _Yes_ , this is our first big case that’s ours. Robards can’t take the credit and neither can that asshole Gaulding. _We_ solved this one and they can’t take that from us. We need to celebrate this.’

‘No one will ever know we solved it.’ Draco pouted.

‘ _We_ will know.’ Harry said before bringing out the puppy-dog eyes. ‘Please?’ Draco did that thing where he made his face look blank, but it really meant that Harry was getting to him. When he rolled his eyes it meant he caved.

‘Fine, but I do not want to go to a pub. The floors are always sticky and these shoes were expensive.’

‘That’s fine, I have a bottle of Firewhisky at my place, we can drink that.’

‘The whole thing?’ Draco asked with a raised eyebrow.

‘Maybe half?’ Draco shook his head, but from the curve of his cheek, Harry could tell he was smiling. Draco tried to distract him by starting a long (and boring) explanation about the wards and how they worked and how he was going to dismantle them. Still, he smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! As the tags say, I am gonna make a few time jumps here and there, because I need time to pass for.... reasons. Anyways, I hope you don't mind. I'll post the next chapter on Friday!
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


	7. The Drinks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're officially halfway there!

‘So, this is the flat of the Saviour of the Wizarding World, huh?’ Draco asked, looking around Harry’s apartment as he sauntered in. It was his first time here and Harry had actually managed to add Draco to the wards without him realizing it. ‘I was expecting something more-‘

‘Clean?’

‘-filled with trophies and articles about yourself.’ Harry let out a snort.

‘Right, because that is so me.’

‘There was a time where I thought it was.’ Draco shrugged. ‘I was young and stupid.’

‘What was it you said? We’re still young and _you’re_ still stupid?’ Draco smirked a little.

‘That does sound like something I would say.’ He took off his coat and put it on the hook by the door, hanging his bag over it as well. He was still in that pearly, silky shirt. Harry busied his hands with his own coat to make sure he didn’t reach out to feel it.

‘Make yourself at home.’ Harry motioned for the couch, throwing his coat on his designated clothes-chair before heading into the kitchen. His own shirt was actually nice too.

After they’d graduated Draco had dragged him to Gladrags Wizardwear where he’d gotten Harry to spend more on clothes in one day than he had spent in the last nineteen years of his life. His closet now consisted of more than just plain black robes, old jeans and hoodies. He had button ups and a few _slacks_ and his closet wasn’t even close to what Draco’s probably looked like, but it sure as hell made Harry feel more like an adult.

He grabbed two low glasses and the bottle of Firewhisky from his kitchen and headed back to the living room. Draco was sitting on his couch, one leg folded over the other, looking unsure of where to put his arm in the mess of pillows he was sitting between. Harry tried his hardest not to grin, but Draco noticed anyways.

‘Who needs this many pillows? What are they all _for?_ ’ He asked, actually sounding confused.

‘They’re not _for_ anything, they’re just fun. Molly loves buying and/or making me pillows, so I guess I collect them now.’ Harry shrugged as he put the glasses and the bottle down, pulling the coffee table closer so that he could sit on the couch and reach it. Draco looked a little horrified and mostly confused.

‘So they’re just for- for fun?’

‘Yeah, pretty much.’ Harry shrugged.

‘Huh.’ Draco looked like he was trying to process that information. Harry just poured him a drink.

‘Here.’ He handed the one glass to Draco while he took the other for himself. Harry wasn’t much of a drinker, he’d have the occasional beer, but the Firewhisky had been standing around in his kitchen for a while. It had been a gift from George for completing his Auror training, so it had been there for like, nine months. ‘Cheers.’

‘Cheers.’ Draco said, looking at the whisky with only a little trepidation.

It had already been dark by the time they managed to de-boobytrap the whole house. Harry had learned a scary amount of ways to boobytrap a house with curses. Death Eaters were creative.

Before Harry knew it, his clock read just past midnight and the bottle was half-empty.

His mind felt slow and sluggish, but soft and floaty. It wasn’t unpleasant per se.

Draco looked like he was debating if he was going to try and hug another pillow. He’d collected about five of the small pillows that had been on Harry’s couch and was now cuddling them. His long, slim arms were wrapped around them, he had lost his fancy silky shirt at some point, claiming Harry’s apartment was like a furnace and he’d been left in his white undershirt. Harry was occasionally distracted by the dusting of almost silvery hairs on his arms.

‘Your hair confuses me, Potter.’ Draco said, struggling sincerely with Harry’s last name. ‘How does it work? It defies’ Harry was pretty sure that’s the word he was trying to say. ‘gravity.’

‘Well, what about yours?’ Harry pointed lazily in the direction of Draco’s head. ‘It’s all shiny and sleek and it looks so soft. Is it soft?’ Draco bopped his head up and down.

‘It’s _very_ soft.’ He said, probably going for his usual haughty tone, but he missed the mark a little. ‘Don’t try to distract me, back to yours, have you ever tried to tame it?’

‘Of course I have.’ Harry rolled his whole head and groaned. ‘It can’t be tamed.’

‘I think Pansy and Daphne would have something to say about that.’ Draco motioned at him with his glass, the liquid in it sloshed around dangerously, but Harry couldn’t find it within himself to care much. ‘They would also have something to say about your glasses.’ Draco frowned a little. ‘ _I_ have something to say about your glasses.’

‘What’s wrong with my glasses?’ Harry asked, unsure if he should be insulted or not here.

‘They’re just-‘ Draco made an annoyed face. ‘They hide your eyes.’ Harry tilted his head in confusion. ‘Your eyes are actually very nice and the glasses make them harder to see.’

‘Well that’s great and everything, but I need the glasses _to see_.’ Draco snorted out a laugh, something Harry had never once heard him do when he was sober. He kind of liked drunk Draco. He liked sober Draco, of course, but drunk Draco was loose in a way his sober counterpart never was.

‘Obviously.’ Draco turned his head towards the clock and groaned. ‘I can’t go home to my mother like this at this hour, she’ll be horrified.’

‘I have a spare room.’ Harry offered. ‘It’s probably not what you’re used to, but it has a bed.’ Draco blinked at him for a few seconds.

‘I- Okay, thank you.’ Harry smiled sloppily at Draco.

‘Of course. Do you have a way to let your mother know?’ He asked and Draco nodded.

‘Yes I can call a House Elf, they can pass the message on.’

And so they got ready for bed. They stumbled around the apartment and the singular bathroom. Harry loaned Draco some sleep pants and a shirt. The pants were hilariously short on his long legs and Harry was still snickering when Draco closed the door of the guestroom in his face with a huff. When Harry’s head hit the pillow he was asleep almost immediately.

Harry woke up feeling like Death and like something had died in his mouth. He felt around on his bedside table for his glasses.

Oh, okay. His brain did not appreciate that. The little light that was coming through his curtains did not feel good at all. His head was pounding. Like there were a whole bunch of Centaurs running around his head. Not fun. A good reminder why he didn’t usually drink much. He groaned as he swung his feet over the edge of the bed.

He remembered everything, which was both good and mildly horrifying, considering that he’d said some _things_ to Draco. Oh Merlin, had he really asked if Draco’s hair was soft? He flinched at his past self.

He shuffled into the kitchen and glanced at the clock. Only 9am, well, for how late they had been up, that wasn’t too bad. He started the coffee machine. No matter how many times he tried, he just couldn’t make coffee with magic quite like he could make it the muggle way.

‘Here.’ Harry startled so bad he nearly threw his coffee cup at Draco’s head. His other hand went for his wand, but he managed to stop himself. He forced himself to put his cup down and turned around.

‘Bloody hell, Malfoy.’ He tried not to sound angry but his heartbeat was up and his head was pounding along to the rhythm of it. ‘Don’t scare me like that.’

‘Sorry.’ Malfoy’s voice was low and a little scratchy but he looked miles better than Harry felt, which was unfair. He held out a bottle to Harry, it looked like a potion. Harry made a face. ‘Hangover cure.’ Malfoy clarified. Harry was reaching for the bottle before he’d even properly got the words out of his mouth. Malfoy grinned at him.

Harry glared, but downed the potion. It tasted bloody awful, but the effect was immediate. Harry’s stomach stopped rolling every time he moved, his limbs didn’t feel like lead anymore and his head stopped pounding. The headache didn’t go away completely, but it was leagues better than before.

‘That’s good.’ Harry said. Draco smirked again.

‘I know, I made it. This was only half a dose, I took the other half.’ He was already dressed in his clothes from yesterday but he looked prim and proper like it was all brand new. Arsehole. ‘I was supposed to deliver this to my friends, but I’ll just say I miscalculated.’

‘Oh right, you have lunch with your friends today, right?’ Harry felt like his brain had suddenly come back online _and_ his coffee was done. Now things were starting to go his way.

‘Yes, I was thinking I’d work on my report a little first and then I’d go meet them for lunch.’ Draco seemed at ease at first, but as his brain woke up, Harry realized there was a tension in Draco’s spine that wasn’t usually there anymore. Not when it was just the two of them. It was almost a little unsettling how different Draco looked, how much he looked like the old Draco, like _Malfoy_. Harry rarely thought of him as Malfoy anymore.

It had been a strange day when he realized that, but they’d worked together so much and spend so many hours in each other’s company that it was only natural, right? Plus, he still called him Malfoy out loud, so it wasn’t like he needed to know.

‘Do you want to work on your rapport here? We could work together, it’d be quicker that way.’ Harry offered. He wasn’t about to let this tension stay in Draco’s spine. That wouldn’t do. Draco looked a little surprised at the offer, but quickly smoothed out his face.

‘I supposed that would be alright.’ Which was Malfoy for “yes, I’d love to!”.

‘Coffee?’ Draco looked suspicious.

‘Is it better than the drab they call coffee at the office?’ Harry rolled his eyes.

‘Who do you think I am, of course it is.’

Harry poured them both a cup of coffee and they settled at the kitchen table. The tension hadn’t quite left Draco yet, but it was a little better. Harry ducked out to get dressed quickly, opting for his oldest pair of jeans and a well-worn t-shirt. They mostly worked in silence for a while, both starting on a different case. Draco was working on the Death Eater safe house and Harry was working on their paperwork for the kidnapping case. They only asked each other questions occasionally.

Until Harry realized something.

‘Huh.’ He said before he could stop the sound from leaving his mouth. Draco looked up and raised a questioning eyebrow. Harry wasn’t ashamed of it and it was unlikely that Draco would judge him for it anyways. ‘I didn’t take the potion I usually take last night, but I slept fine.’

‘You usually take a potion to go to sleep?’ Draco asked, surprise written on his face.

‘Not to go to sleep, to _stay_ asleep.’ Understanding dawned on his face.

‘Ah, nightmares.’ It wasn’t really a question, but Harry nodded anyways. ‘What do you take?’ He asked.

‘Dreamless Sleep. Not too much because it makes me feel like I wouldn’t wake up if… something were to happen, but enough that I at least get a few solid hours.’ Harry said and Draco nodded slowly.

‘If you want, I could make it for you.’ Harry titled his head.

‘What?’

‘I make potions for my friends at a much lower fee than the general supplier would ask.’

‘I’m your friend?’ Harry asked with a grin and Draco rolled his eyes.

‘Of course _that_ is the part of the sentence you would focus on.’ He huffed. ‘Fine, yes. I suppose we are friends.’ Harry let his grin morph into a more genuine smile.

‘I’m glad we are.’ Draco shifted uncomfortably.

‘Well, yes. Great. Now can we focus?’

‘Right sure, sorry.’ Harry held up his hands in surrender, turning back to his paperwork. He tapped his pen against his lips for a second, pondering over the next part. Ever since he’d left Hogwarts he’d gone back to using ballpoint pens. There was a lot he loved about the Wizarding World, but their strange obsession with using quills and parchment was not one of them. So instead, Harry used his pens and a regular notebook. Draco had looked at him funnily at first, but now he just shrugged it off.

It was nearly noon by the time Harry gave up.

‘Alright, I think I’m done for today.’ He announced. He could finish the rest tomorrow before he went for lunch at Ron and Hermione’s. Draco looked up, then at the clock and sighed.

‘Yes, I suppose I’m done for the morning. I should head off soon.’ He sounded like he almost regretted that. That look turned into something calculating. ‘You could always come with me.’ Harry blinked at him stupidly.

‘Come with you to where?’

‘My lunch with the others.’ Draco said after rolling his eyes. ‘I did say you were my friend now and on Saturday’s I have lunch with my friends.’

‘And by friends you mean…?’

‘Pansy, Daphne, Blaise, Greg, maybe Millie if she’s got the day off. I’m never sure.’ Draco shrugged. Right, so basically the Slytherins in their year. Harry was being invited to have lunch with all the Slytherins in his year. He could almost hear Ron in the back of his mind “this is a terrible idea” he’d be saying, but when had Harry ever let _that_ stop him?

‘Okay, sure.’ Draco’s eyes widened minutely, like he hadn’t expected Harry to agree. Was- was this a test? Well, that only made Harry more determined to make this successful.

‘Okay, lunch is at the Manor this week so you can Side-Along with me.’ Harry ignored how his stomach clenched when he realized what Manor Draco was talking about. He was going back to Malfoy Manor for the first time since the war.

‘That sounds good.’ Harry looked down at his clothes. ‘Are you going to make me change?’ He grinned as Draco flinched. Since Draco had taken Harry to get “proper, adult clothes” he had really toned it down on the constant complaints about Harry’s fashion sense. He would still comment when Harry made what was, according to him, bad combinations, but his tone was more gentle. Like he was actually trying to _teach_ Harry instead of just making him feel like an idiot.

‘It’s up to you.’ Draco said like it pained him. Harry snorted.

‘I’ll go change.’

‘Oh thank Merlin.’ Draco breathed out. Harry laughed. ‘You should wear that emerald green shirt with the charcoal grey pants.’ Harry narrowed his eyes at Draco.

‘Are you just trying to dress me in Slytherin colours?’ He asked. Draco shrugged.

‘Not everything is about Hogwarts houses, Potter.’ Harry rolled his eyes but headed into his room to search for the green shirt. He left the top few buttons open and rolled his sleeves up to above his elbows. A little of Draco and a little of Harry.

Draco nodded in approval when Harry came from his room again. They headed out of the apartment and Apparated to the Manor. Seeing it again, after such a long time, looming over him made Harry stop dead in his tracks.

Draco, who had already been heading towards the door, stopped and looked back at him, a confused little frown between his eyebrows. Harry must have looked pretty horrified because the realization dawned on his face pretty quickly.

‘Oh shite, I didn’t even think about it.’ Draco hurried back towards Harry. ‘I’m so sorry, Harry. The inside is completely redone, I promise.’ Harry swallowed thickly.

‘Yeah, no, it’s fine. I got it. I’m fine.’ He forced his feet to move forwards. ‘You redid the inside?’ Harry forced his voice back in the direction of normal. Draco didn’t seem convinced.

‘I didn’t, my mother did. She had a lot of time on her hands during her house arrest.’

Draco was right. Beyond the grandeur of some of the rooms, the Manor really didn’t seem all that familiar to him. There was nothing he recognized about the small sitting room Draco lead him into.

‘Mother.’ Draco seemed surprised to find his mother in a chair near the window. Narcissa Malfoy looked almost exactly like she always had, a little older, but still tall and bordering on royal.

‘Draco,’ She turned her cold eyes towards Harry. ‘Mister Potter.’

‘Mrs. Malfoy.’ Harry greeted. ‘I like what you’ve done with the place.’ He motioned to the sitting room. She smiled coolly.

‘Thank you.’ She got up from the chair, all elegance. ‘I need to speak to my son for a second, would you mind waiting here?’

‘No, that’s fine.’ Harry said, unable to stop himself from keeping her in his sightlines as she herded Draco towards a different door than the one they’d come in through. Harry sighed. The room was very nice, very Malfoy, very expensive. All dark wood and silver and green accents. A lot of thought had probably been put into the interior and Harry was most certainly not fancy enough to understand the intricacies of it.

He wasn’t alone for very long and it wasn’t Draco who came bursting through the door.

‘-oh good merciful Merlin, Draco you have no idea what that fool of a Mirella did this-‘ Pansy Parkinson stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of Harry.

‘Hello.’ Harry said, pretty drily.

‘Auror Potter.’ Parkinson changed into her put together, blank-faced self, right before his eyes. It really was quite impressive how they were able to do that.

‘Junior Auror, technically.’ Harry said. ‘Parkinson, how are you?’ Her eyebrows twitched upwards.

‘I’m quite alright. How are you?’

‘Good.’

‘Are you here on Auror- oh sorry, _Junior Auror_ business?’ She asked, approaching slowly.

‘No, I’m not. Draco invited me to your weekly lunch.’ Her eyebrows twitched up again.

‘Oh did he now?’ Her expression went a little calculating. ‘When did he do that?’

‘This morning?’ Harry answered, a little confused.

‘Why exactly were you two together this morning? I thought even Junior Aurors got the weekends off unless there was some kind of emergency?’ Ah, that’s what she was after.

‘We solved a pretty big case yesterday, so we had a drink to celebrate it. Draco stayed over.’

‘ _Draco_ stayed over?’ The corner of her mouth quirked up in a smirk. ‘That is interesting.’

‘Is it?’ Harry asked.

‘Oh yes, very interesting.’ He wasn’t quite sure what was going on exactly. So he just sort of smiled and said:

‘I aim to entertain.’

‘Good. I enjoy being entertained.’ She sauntered over to the table and headed to the other side to sit down. It seemed like a very deliberate choice of chair. Maybe they all had their own spot? ‘Where _is_ Draco?’

‘His mother wanted to speak with him for a bit.’ Harry said with a shrug and Parkinson seemed to take a closer look at him.

‘I suppose that’s to be expected seeing as he didn’t come home last night.’ She tilted her head to the side. ‘Are you wearing Draco’s clothes?’ Harry frowned and looked down at himself.

‘Uh, no?’

‘Huh, so you own actual proper adult clothes now?’ She asked and Harry rolled his eyes.

‘Why does everyone hate my clothes?’

‘I don’t hate _these_ clothes. You look good, I’d dare say attractive if it weren’t for the glasses and the hair.’ Well, Draco did warn him she would have _opinions_.

‘Yeah, well, too bad. The hair and the glasses aren’t going to change.’

‘Oh come on, if you’d just let me and Daphne teach you how to take your hair from “attacked by angry Hippogriffs” to “oh I just rolled out of bed”, it would make such a difference.’ She was actually pouting at him now. This was strange. Strange because it didn’t feel incredibly strange. He was having an actual, civil conversation with Pansy Parkinson. About his hair.

‘Why would I care about what my hair looks like?’ She rolled her eyes.

‘Draco might think your complete lack of care about your appearance is endearing, but unless you’re planning on spending the rest of your life with Draco, you might want to make an effort. How else are you going to convince a girl to go on a date with you?’

‘His sparkling personality, obviously.’ Draco must have caught the tail end of the conversation as he came sauntering back into the room. He looked perfectly fine, so whatever his mother had wanted to talk about probably hadn’t been bad. ‘Pansy, you’re early.’ He approached her and kissed both of her cheeks.

‘Well yes, I wanted to talk to you about Mirella, but instead I found Harry Potter.’ She said with a tilt to her head that Draco seemed to read like a question.

‘I invited him. Saturday’s are when I have lunch with my friends, I consider him a friend now.’ Parkinson nodded slowly, pressing her lips together in an amused sort of look.

‘Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter, _friends_ , who’d have thought?’ She leaned back in her chair and grinned. Harry just didn’t quite _get_ Slytherins, or maybe it was just these Slytherins. Parkinson seemed to find all of this immensely amusing and Harry just didn’t quite get _why_.

‘Good morning everyone, I am positively sta-‘ Blaise Zabini came waltzing into the room and stopped mid-word.

‘Hello Blaise, Draco invited his good friend Harry Potter today, isn’t that fun!’ Parkinson grinned. Zabini didn’t look like he thought it was “fun” at all. Not even a little bit, in fact. Only a few seconds later Daphne Greengrass walked through the doors. She was the first that didn’t look absolutely shocked at seeing Harry in the parlour of Malfoy Manor.

‘Good afternoon all. Potter,’ She nodded at him. ‘will you be joining us for lunch?’

‘Yes, I will.’

‘Lovely, we can discuss getting you some new glasses.’ Harry made a disbelieving sound.

‘I told you so.’ Draco smirked at him and Harry glared.

Once Gregory Goyle arrived and had gotten over the shock of seeing Harry there, their lunch was… interesting. The girls were nice enough, if Harry ignored their needling about his hair and glasses. Goyle was quiet, he seemed unsure what to do about Harry, which was fair. Zabini was… well, at first Harry thought he was kind of a dick. He seemed very miffed that Harry had been invited to _their_ lunch, but he also slowly seemed to calm down as no one else was really engaging with his complaining.

When they all headed back to their own places, Harry found himself happy he went. It was always good to make more contacts, especially in places where he otherwise wouldn’t have contacts. Daphne and Pansy were hellbent on trying to convince him to get new glasses but, he found he didn’t mind all that much. They weren’t being nasty about it, in fact, they were almost funny.

Getting out of Hogwarts and away from the tension of a looming war was apparently good for people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I'm glad everyone still seems to be enjoying this! I'll be back on Sunday!
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


	8. The Injury

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Draco gets hurt in this one, it's somewhat graphic.

They got promoted a month after they solved the case of the missing little girl. Robards grumbled about it, but Harry didn’t listen. They were the first of the Junior Aurors (apart from Baez) to be promoted to fully fledged Aurors and Harry was proud of it.

At first, Ron was horrified that Harry was letting Draco supply him with Dreamless Sleep now. He was convinced Draco would try to poison him. Luckily, when Ron and Amelia (along with Gaulding and Blueroot) were promoted a month after Harry and Draco, Ron figured out that they had a common enemy.

Theo Gaulding.

Gaulding had decided he was going to be Harry’s friend, if Harry liked it or not. Also, he had decided he would like to trade his current partner, Blueroot, for Harry.

Personally, Harry wasn’t the least bit interested in being anything of Gaulding other than a colleague, but he didn’t really seem to take the hint and Harry didn’t want to be rude. So he was polite and that was about it. Ron and Draco however, had taken it upon themselves to drive Gaulding away whenever they were around to do so (which fortunately was a lot).

So yes, Gaulding gave Draco and Ron something to bond over, their shared hatred for the guy trying to steal their best friend/partner. Also, Ron was starting to grin more as he bickered back and forth with Draco. They were polar opposites in so many ways, but they seemed to share a love for snarking at each other and to be honest, Harry was just really glad neither of them had tried to hex the other at any point.

‘You’ve really adapted well to this whole thing.’ Harry motioned around their new office. They’d been moved from their little cubicles to their own office, with a _door_ and _name plates_ and Draco had just sort of taken it all in stride. Harry had expected he would drive Draco mad within the first few days.

In their cubicles there had always been other sound going on. Others working, mail coming in, going out, cases being discussed, talks in the break room. It was never quiet. Their office was on the other hand was very quiet and that made Harry’s fidgeting always the loudest thing in the room. He tapped his pens, bounced his leg and did pretty much every other annoying thing that would mean he wouldn’t have to sit still.

‘Slytherins are adaptable.’ Draco said, leaning back in his chair.

‘What is that even supposed to mean?’

‘Well I don’t know if you know this, but the Houses don’t just have an animal they are associated with, they also have an element.’ Harry frowned in confusion.

‘I didn’t know that.’

‘Right, it’s easy to forget you didn’t grow up in our world. Do you want to take a guess as to which element belongs to which?’ Harry considered that for a second.

‘Well, I would assume Gryffindor is fire.’ Draco nodded and motioned for him to continue. ‘Slytherin is water?’ He mostly guessed that because fire and water were opposites. ‘And then, Hufflepuff earth and Ravenclaw air?’

‘That’s right.’ Draco said with a smile. ‘Water is the element of change. We can adapt to the situation to get us the optimal outcome.’ He motioned at Harry. ‘I realized immediately you were going to drive me insane with your fidgeting and your tapping, so I cast a silencing charm on your desk and chair. I can still hear it if you speak to me, but the tapping against the desk or the wiggling of the chair doesn’t make any sound to me. I foresaw an issue and I adapted.’

‘Huh.’ Harry said before going back to his work.

It was strange, he’d never really thought about doing anything besides become an Auror, but he hadn’t anticipated the amount of paperwork that was involved in what they did.

Their job really went from zero to one hundred and back in the blink of an eye and there was really very little in between. The strange thing was, Harry didn’t necessarily enjoy the action packed moments more than he enjoyed the slow ones. When there was action, it usually meant that someone’s life was at risk. Sometimes it was theirs, other times it was a random person, but there was always the sense of dread.

With the quiet moments the paperwork was so tedious and boring it made Harry go cross-eyed. His focus would drift and drift and drift until he had been staring at the same page for ten minutes and hadn’t registered a single thing that was written on it.

Also, Harry thought he’d seen a lot during his years at Hogwarts, which he had, but there was so much more darkness out there in the world that he’d had no idea of. He’d seen so many more ways of wizarding folk hurting each other than he ever thought possible and some days he was just so tired.

But if he didn’t go out there and try to stop it and catch the bad ones, who would?

And they were good at it too. Very good. Draco and Harry quickly gained the reputation of being a great pair. Draco was the more cautious and calculating one while Harry was the better in stressful situations. They complemented each other, but they were different enough to make it so that they had different views on cases. They both had a different expertise, a different way of looking at the world. They just worked.

They closed case after case and filed paperwork after paperwork and before Harry knew it, they’d been working as a Senior Auror duo for a year.

In that year, there had been minor injuries on both of their parts. Scrapes and bruises, a few bumps and the one memorable occasion where Harry had broken his wrist tripping over a walking coffee table.

Their latest case however dealt with a small, but nasty group of wizards who had been attacking Muggleborns. They were the vicious sort and so when Harry and Draco ended up being surprised by them and then cornered, things got dicey.

He heard Draco cry out in pain. He felt a familiar hand on his arm. He heard a familiar voice in his ear.

‘Get us out of here Potter.’ So he did.

‘You’re hurt.’ Harry said the second they landed, his hands already reaching for Draco. Apparating while hurt was always a bad idea, but he hadn’t had much of a choice. Without even thinking, Harry had brought them to Gimmauld Place. ‘Welcome to number 12 Grimmauld Place.’ Harry said, he needed to let Draco in on the secret or the Fidelius would keep them out.

‘What the bloody hell are you on about-‘ Draco asked, Merlin he got grouchy when he was hurting. ‘Oh.’ He said when the buildings moved to make place for number 12.

‘It’s the old Black house. Come on.’ Harry pulled on Draco’s arm. His legs didn’t seem to be hurt so he could probably walk himself inside. Draco stumbled a little on the steps up to the door, but he made it inside without falling over. Harry was counting that as a victory. He steered Draco into the sitting room and onto a small couch.

‘ _This_ is the old Black house?’ Draco looked around with a little furrow between his brows.

‘No one has lived here in a long time, now come on, shirt off.’ Harry snapped his fingers twice and with a pop, Kreacher appeared. Harry had actually been snapping his fingers at Draco, not to call for Kreacher, but alright.

‘What can I’s do for young master Potter?’ The old House Elf asked, grumpy as ever.

‘Could you get me some towels and lukewarm water, Kreacher? My friend here is hurt.’

‘I’s will do that.’ Kreacher disappeared. Draco was struggling to get his shirt off while trying not to pull on the apparent wound in his side. It looked like some kind of slash, it was bleeding quite a lot. Harry got tired of watching him struggle pretty quickly.

‘Oh bloody hell.’ He marched towards him. ‘Sit still, I’ll do it.’ Draco muttered a few unpleasant things under his breath but he didn’t actually argue. Harry peeled his button up off. It was completely ruined, which was a shame, Harry loved this pale blue colour on Draco. Maybe he’d buy him a new one.

That wasn’t important right now. He tossed the shirt on an empty chair and went back in for the plain white shirt Draco had been wearing underneath. It was a little trickier to get off and he ended up making Draco lean forward while he peeled the shirt off, Draco’s breaths were coming in short little gasps because of the pain so he sat up quickly. Harry only caught a glimpse of his bare back. He registered that there was something there other than pale skin, but he was pretty distracted by the gaping wound in Draco’s side.

‘Bloody fucking shite Draco.’ Harry said. He dropped to his knees so he could get a better look. Draco groaned. ‘That looks bad.’

‘It feels pretty bloody bad too Potter, for Merlin’s sake, do something about it.’ Draco snapped.

‘Look this is a little more than a simple Episkey can fix okay, I’ve never been very good at healing magic.’ Harry found his voice a little hysterical. He was usually pretty calm in scary situations, but there was something about the stark contrast of Draco’s already pale skin and the bright red of his blood.

‘You’re telling me that _now_?’ Draco snapped, drawing Harry’s eyes away from the gash on his side.

‘Hey, you just said “get us out of here Potter”’ He did an admittedly terrible impression of Draco’s accent and judging by the glare he got, Draco noticed. ‘so I got us out of there. You didn’t tell me you had a _gaping hole in your side_.’

‘Well now you do know so _do something_.’ Draco growled out. He was sweating now and he looked even paler than usual, practically translucent. A wave of worry crashed over him.

‘You are _not_ allowed to die on me okay. I just know Gaulding will try to get paired up with me if you do and I don’t want that to happen so, _do not die_.’ Harry ordered setting his hand on Draco’s knee. Draco glared at him. Kreacher appeared next to him with a bowl of water and a few towels.

‘That is not looking good. I thinks Master Harry’s friend is hurt.’ Kreacher said, actually showing an emotion. ‘Master Harry’s friend must not bleed on the upholstery.’ Ah, that’s why. ‘Shall Kreacher heal Master Harry’s friend?’ He should probably introduce them, maybe Kreacher would be nicer to a Malfoy.

‘You can do that?’ Harry asked instead.

‘Yes, yes, Kreacher can heal Master Harry’s bleeding friend before he gets blood on the upholstery.’ Kreacher nodded, his big ears flopping back and forth.

‘Okay, please heal my friend, Kreacher.’ Kreacher simply snapped his fingers and the wound on Draco’s side started knitting itself back together. Draco gasped, swayed and actually went a little green. Harry tightened his hand on Draco’s knee.

‘Bloody fucking hell that hurt.’

‘Ah yes, perhaps Kreacher should have mentioned that.’ The House Elf said, not sounding all that apologetic at all. Harry rolled his eyes.

‘Thank you Kreacher.’ He made it as clear of a dismissal as he could. Kreacher disappeared with a nod.

‘Next time, take me to St. Mungo’s.’ Draco said from between clenched teeth. ‘At least they give you a pain relief potion first.’

‘Uh, no, no, there is not going to be a next time.’ Harry said with a stern point. He dipped one of the towels in the lukewarm water. ‘Here, get the blood off.’ Draco took the towel and actually started on his hands. His hands were covered in his own blood. Harry hated it. He meant what he said, if he had anything to do with it, he would never see Draco’s blood again.

He pushed himself to his feet. As he stood and watched Draco meticulously clean the blood off his own hands, Harry could feel how tense he was. He had his jaw clenched tight and his fingers were digging uncomfortably in his biceps where he had his arms crossed over each other.

‘You seem upset.’ Draco noted, if not for the fact that he was still a little pale and the water in the bowl had turned pink, you almost wouldn’t be able to tell he’d been hurt at all. He was just Draco, sitting on a couch, shirtless, cleaning the last remnants of blood off his flat stomach. His pale, pale skin was still a little pink, maybe from the rubbing of the towel. Harry didn’t know, his skin didn’t really colour like that, it was too dark.

‘Of bloody fucking course I’m upset.’

‘I’m fine.’

‘Now.’ Harry said pointedly. ‘You are fine _now_. After my House Elf healed a giant fucking hole in your side.’ Draco pushed himself up off the couch. He still moved a little gingerly and Harry hated it. He also hated how _this_ was how he first saw Draco without a shirt on. Merlin, he was just so _lean_. All wiry muscle overlaid with porcelain skin. It was rude. ‘I think I still have some clothes here, I’ll get you something and no,’ Harry said before he could open his mouth. ‘you are not allowed to complain. That shirt is ruined and you know it. Not even the best of spells will be able to deal with all that blood and a hole that size.’

Draco didn’t try to argue, so Harry hurried up the stairs and did indeed find an old bag of his with some shirts stuffed in it. They smelled clean if not a little musty, so he cast a refreshing spell on it and brought it downstairs. It was a plain, dark blue shirt, soft and worn, but without holes. All in all, it could have been way worse. He stepped back into the living room, shirt clenched in his fist. He was half way towards saying something when he stopped dead in his tracks. He knew his jaw dropped.

Draco was standing with his back towards him and right there, curling over his entire back, along his spine, was a dragon. The tattoo of a dragon. It was _moving_ , like Wizarding pictures did. It was _beautiful_. It had amazing silvery-blue scales, with tiny blue flames coming from its nostrils. It looked wild, with long, nearly silver talons. It had a collar around its neck with a chain attached to it, its head tilted towards the sky, up over Draco’s shoulder blade. In a loop it would bare its teeth, tense its body and break its chains. Harry couldn’t figure out if some parts were actually coloured for the tattoo or if that was just Draco’s skin.

It was incredible.

Something squeezed in Harry’s chest. He cleared his throat and Draco whirled around. A lock of his hair fell into his face, he pushed it away with an annoyed gesture.

‘I didn’t know tattoos could do that.’ Harry managed, his voice sounded a little choked. For Merlin’s sake, what the hell? What was wrong with him?

‘Wizarding tattoos can.’ Draco said, he looked a little uncomfortable, but not angry, which was his general go to when Harry saw/ did/ asked him something he didn’t want (him) to see/ do/ answer.

‘It’s beautiful.’ Harry offered carefully. Draco cleared his throat.

‘Thank you.’

‘When did you get it?’

‘After I got accepted into the Auror training programme.’ Draco admitted. It had been _years_ at this point and Harry had never seen it. Draco had never told him.

‘Is it a secret?’ He asked, because it seemed weird. If Harry had a masterpiece like that on his back, he’d want to tell everyone about it.

‘Not per se, it’s just…’ Draco seemed to consider his words carefully. ‘mine. It’s mine.’ Harry titled his head and tried to read between the lines.

It was on his back, and Draco generally wore layers, many layers. They’d been working together for actual years at this point and Harry had never seen him without a shirt, he’d rarely even seen him in short sleeves. That might have something to do with the ugly black mark on his forearm.

Oh.

That had not been _his_ , this one was his.

‘You chose this one.’ Harry said, maybe not with the right infliction, but Draco seemed to get what Harry was trying to say because he actually smiled.

‘Yeah, I got to choose this one.’ Draco confirmed.

‘So, um, what species is it?’ He handed Draco the shirt and to his credit he didn’t comment on it, but just pulled it over his head.

‘Swedish Short-Snout.’ He pulled at the bottom of the shirt, it was a little short on him. ‘They’re from, surprise, Sweden. The real life ones grow to about 22ft.’ Harry nodded.

‘Yeah, I’ve seen one.’ He swallowed. ‘Cedric faced it in the first task of the Triwizard Tournament.’ Draco flinched.

‘Right, I remember that.’ Draco said. ‘That’s not why I chose it though.’

‘You chose it because it fits your colour scheme?’ Harry offered with a slight smile. The corner of Draco’s mouth quirked up.

‘Basically, yes. It’s flame burns so hot it is blue as well, it goes with my aesthetic.’ Draco actually grinned at that. He did that so rarely, Harry found himself basking in it every time. ‘I take it you don’t have any tattoos?’

‘No, but, seeing yours, I might want one.’ Harry’s hand automatically reached up to try and flatten his fringe. ‘I kind of like the idea of _me_ deciding how I want to mark my body.’ Draco’s smile softened, he twisted his arm so that the Dark Mark was a little more visible.

‘Yes, I liked that too.’

‘And it’s breaking free, right? Your dragon?’ Draco seemed to like it that Harry called it “his dragon”.

‘Yes it is. Breaking free from its past.’

‘I love it.’ Harry said with a smile. Harry shrugged off his own dark grey jacket and held it out to Draco. ‘Do you want to put this on before we go back to the office? We need to make sure the others know that they know we’re after them now.’ Draco looked at his ruined shirt with a forlorn expression.

‘I suppose.’ He accepted the jacket. ‘Won’t you be cold?’

‘We’ll Apparate into the Ministry, I can wear my Auror coat for the rest of the day.’ Harry tried to reassure him. He was pretty sure Draco also had his Auror coat in the office, but neither of them seemed to want to mention that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wizarding Tattoos how cool would that be?! The whole idea of Draco having a tattoo stems from a convo with my wonderful friend Lubs, who helped me figure out I love tattooed Draco.  
> Also I have no idea if a house elf would actually be able to heal someone, but I'm just running with it. 
> 
> I'll be back tomorrow for another one! 
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


	9. The Realization

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but this is almost 2k longer than my normal chapters.

‘-he is just the most frustratingly amazing person ever, how does he even do that? How does he manage to make me want to strangle him and just, fucking, be around him all the time?’

Ginny was sitting sideways in the soft dark green armchair, looking slightly bored. Hermione and Ron were on the couch, Ron looked immensely confused, while Hermione looked like she’d just realized something major and was trying to decide how to broach the subject.

‘Uh Harry?’ Hermione interrupted his pacing/ ranting.

‘Yeah?’

‘Um, is it possible that you maybe have a crush on Malfoy?’ Harry stopped in his tracks. Oh.

Oh.

 _Oh_.

‘Oh, uh. I don’t know, maybe?’

‘ _What?_ ’ Ron asked and his jaw dropped open. Ginny was the only one who didn’t look surprised.

‘Wait, you guys have only just figured that out?’ She asked, tilting her head in confusion.

‘What do you mean “have you only _just_ figured that out?”? What are you on about Ginny?’ Ron asked, his horrified tone settled a pit in the bottom of Harry’s stomach. Ginny rolled her eyes at her brother.

‘Your partner, Amelia? Back when we had your graduation party, she was totally flirting with Malfoy and Harry was totally jealous.’

‘Woah, woah, wait what?’ Harry asked, suddenly just as confused as Ron looked. Ginny looked at him like she wasn’t quite sure if he was serious. He totally was.

‘Harry, sweetie. You’ve had a crush on Malfoy for _ages_.’

‘I have?’

‘Yeah.’

‘But, but, but, Malfoy is a _bloke_.’ Ron burst out. Hermione and Ginny rolled their eyes in synch.

‘Wow, thank you for that astute observation Ronald.’ Hermione said. ‘Why would that be a problem?’ She raised her eyebrows and tilted her chin up.

‘It’s- no, I mean, I just didn’t realize-‘ Ron stuttered. ‘But- but, he’s _Malfoy_.’ Ginny sighed deeply.

‘It’s been years, Ron. Are you still not over that? Your best friend likes him, get over yourself.’ Ron gaped at his sister. Harry felt a little bit like someone had taken the rug and pulled it out from under him. He knew his… interest in Draco hadn’t always been exactly normal. Even back at Hogwarts he was probably more obsessed with what he was up to than technically reasonable. It was just, he’d never even thought about this being more than just a friends kind of thing. Did he actually want to kiss Draco? Was that something he wanted to do?

Oh. Yeah, kind of.

‘Guys- _guys_ -‘ Ginny said forcefully and Harry realized Ron and Hermione had been bickering. ‘I think Harry just had a revelation, maybe you could stop arguing and feed the poor guy. He looks too skinny.’ Hermione’s eyes darted over him critically.

‘Yes, I’ll get you some of the leftover pasta. Sit down, Harry.’ Harry flopped down in the nearest chair. It had been years, but he still wasn’t inclined to ignore something Hermione told him to do.

‘Harry,’ Ginny said in a soft tone she didn’t generally use. ‘did you really _just_ realize you have a crush on Malfoy?’

‘Kinda.’ Harry admitted, staring very hard at the mark on the wooden coffee table that was vaguely shaped like a mouse. What a strange stain.

‘Oh, sorry. If I’d known you actually hadn’t realized I would have been more sensitive about it.’ Ginny said with an apologetic look. Harry raised his eyebrows at her.

‘Would you have?’ Ginny was a lot of things: a bloody good Quidditch player, a stellar dueller and a terrible chess player, but she was not sensitive.

‘Well, I would have _tried_.’ Harry laughed and smiled fondly at her.

‘I still don’t get it.’ Ron broke the moment and Ginny dropped her head back with a groan. ‘You dated my sister and now you want to date _Malfoy_? Buddy, you gotta help me here cause I’m bloody confused.’ Harry held up his hands in a helpless gesture.

‘I don’t know, okay? I don’t know when it happened I just- I don’t know. He’s different now, Ron. He’s actually kind of funny and he cares and he is weirdly into doing his paperwork and if I needle him enough he’ll do mine, especially when I have a headache and I don’t know how he knows but he always just seems to _know_. He’s never, not even once yelled at me for being a fidgety bloody arsehole and we both know I can be.’ Hermione came back from the kitchen with a steaming plate of her pasta parmesan and Harry practically inhaled the first bite. Shit he hadn’t realized he was hungry.

Ron was still looking at him like his universe had just been tilted slightly to the left and he hadn’t quite adjusted yet. Hermione had sat back down and looked… well, like she wanted to shake Ron a little. Ginny looked bored, but then again, she’d had her revelation months ago, no wait, years at this point. Shite he’d been really damn blind hadn’t he? Had it really taken seeing Draco shirtless and tattooed and _bleeding_ to finally drive home that maybe his feelings towards Draco weren’t entirely just friendly? Apparently.

Wow. He was a bloody fool.

‘Okay, this is great and everything, but he doesn’t like me back, right?’ Harry asked and Ron went back to looking horrified, but more in the sense of “oh good merciful Merlin now I have to talk with my best friend about _boys_ ”. Ginny, however, snorted.

‘Oh please. The guy didn’t even so much as _look_ at Amelia and she’s way pretty.’ She motioned vaguely at him. ‘Also, all of the stuff you just mentioned? How he does your paperwork for you when you have a headache and how he doesn’t snap at you for being a fidgety little shite, I think he does.’

Harry sat with that for a little bit as he shovelled the last of his pasta into his mouth. He came to the conclusion he wanted to spend a little time simmering on this. He needed to look at his normal interactions with Draco with this knowledge in the back of his head. So what he needed right now, was a subject change.

‘I want to get a tattoo.’ He said as he put his empty plate on the coffee table. Now it was Hermione’s turn to look surprised. Ron released a sigh of relief.

‘That is the least crazy thing you’ve said so far.’ Ron leaned forward, setting his elbows on his knees. ‘What off?’

‘I was thinking that maybe I’d want to get something for my parents, you know. I recently learned that Wizarding tattoos can move, how cool is that?’ Harry grinned.

‘Very cool.’ Ginny agreed. ‘I’ve been wanting a tattoo for ages, but mom would kill me, so I’m waiting until I’ve at least got my own place.’ She’d just started playing for the Holyhead Harpies and Harry knew she could _afford_ her own place right now, he also knew Molly was almost desperately holding on to her daughter, her last child living at home. With Bill travelling all over the world for his curse-breaking job, Charlie in Romania, Percy practically sleeping at the Ministry these days, George burying himself in the joke shop and Ron making long hours as an Auror, Ginny was the only one she could still keep close beyond the mandatory monthly Sunday dinner. Ginny was humouring her, for now, but sooner or later she’d want out.

‘I’ll get one first,’ Harry offered. ‘she can get used to the idea on me and so when you get one she won’t flip out entirely.’ Ginny grinned sharply at him.

‘Thanks Harry.’

‘What would you want to get, Harry? I hope you will put some thought into it, these are very permanent yes?’ Hermione pressed gently and Harry was once again reminded how much more restraint she’d learned over the years. Back in the day Hermione would have already been half way towards panic and convinced Harry was about to ruin his life.

‘I have thought about it, quite a lot since I got the idea.’ Sure that wasn’t that long ago, but whatever. When had he ever thought something through? ‘I was thinking a stag and a doe running along my side, maybe.’ Hermione seemed to consider that for a few seconds and then she smiled softly.

‘That actually sounds very nice, Harry.’ He smiled back at her. Yeah, this was good. He was going to do this.

‘I want to get a tattoo.’ Draco looked up at him from where he was sitting at his own desk. He raised a single eyebrow.

‘Okay.’ He looked back at his papers and started writing again.

‘I want to get a tattoo from the same person you got yours.’ Harry elaborated and Draco sighed. He put his quill in the holder and looked at Harry properly.

‘Okay, I can give you her information.’ Judging by the look on Draco’s face he could tell that wasn’t quite all Harry wanted.

‘I was also kind of hoping you’d come with me?’ Harry tried, grinning widely.

‘Why?’ Draco asked, but his tone said he had already pretty much agreed.

‘Because I’m nervous about it?’ Draco sighed.

‘Have you actually thought this through?’ He asked, massaging his temples. The two of them had been pulling long hours for the last week trying to make sure that their latest case got wrapped up properly. Neither of them had ever quite gotten away from the habit of doing everything themselves. Unlike Gaulding who was taking great pleasure in making the Junior Aurors do all of the work he didn’t want to do himself.

That had resulted in him becoming the victim of a few pranks here and there. Harry had _not_ laughed when he’d been prancing around the Auror offices with blue hair wondering why everyone was snickering behind his back. He hadn’t gently pointed one particular Junior Auror in the direction of Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. He hadn’t, because he was an _adult_ now.

‘You sound like Hermione.’ Harry replied, maybe a beat too late. Draco made a face. ‘ _Yes_ , I have thought this through. I want this.’ Draco held his hands up in surrender. There was an uncharacteristic ink stain on his thumb. The dark ink was stark against his pale skin and Harry had a hard time dragging his eyes away from it.

‘Alright, fine. Maybe you should owl her, see when she has time.’

Harry immediately grabbed a piece of parchment and started scribbling. Draco sighed and pushed himself off his chair.

‘I’ll go find you an owl. Do you want coffee?’ Harry shook his head.

‘No thanks.’ Warmth bloomed behind Harry’s breastbone when Draco quickly smiled back at him and then disappeared from the room.

He’d gone into the week prepared to investigate his own feelings towards Draco and he’d come to a pretty simple conclusion, fairly quickly: he was an idiot.

Not only did he have feelings for Draco (Merlin now that he knew it was so _obvious_ ), but Draco most likely also had feelings for him. He did things for Harry he didn’t do for anyone else, he allowed Harry to do things he didn’t allow anyone else. Besides Harry, his closest friend in the office was probably Amelia and he _never_ allowed her to steal his biscuits, but he let Harry. He _rarely_ smiled at anyone else, but he smiled at Harry all the time. He would never have gone out of his way to get an owl for Ron for a _personal_ message.

 _And then_ there was that day they’d gotten drunk together. At first, Harry had been really good at pretending he didn’t remember because he’d been Embarrassed about it, but now, he remembered the way Draco had looked at him when he didn’t have his normal reservations.

Draco Malfoy liked him.

His biggest problem here was: he had no idea what to do about it.

Whenever he’d dated before (and oh boy had that been a _while_ ), it had been at Hogwarts where there was the Yule Ball or Hogsmeade weekends. With Ginny it had just kind of… happened. Ginny hadn’t expected much and there had been _a lot_ going on. Ron and Hermione had just sort of fallen together, so they weren’t really any help either.

Maybe he should have just been a Gryffindor and asked him out, but every time he opened his mouth to try, nothing came out. There was still a tiny sliver of doubt in his mind. This tiny voice at the back of his mind that said “but what if he doesn’t like you like that, do you really want to risk losing him entirely? He will ask for a different partner” and that filled him with so much dread he choked up every time.

So for now he was just letting it sit. They were busy (and that wasn’t even an excuse, their caseload was huge) and there was barely time to sleep and eat, let alone _date_. So he was letting it just simmer in the back for now.

A tawny owl came fluttering into the room right before Draco who was carrying two mugs. The owl landed on his desk, hooting softly. Draco set one of the mugs on Harry’s desk and he caught a whiff of tea.

‘Oh thanks Draco.’

‘You’re welcome.’ Draco said setting his own mug down before sticking his hand in the pocket of his red Auror jacket and producing something wrapped in a tissue which he came to drop on Harry’s desk as well. He didn’t wear his jacket often, but they’d been out in the field this morning for official business, so both of them were wearing their official outfits. ‘Eat that.’ He pointed at the little mystery package.

First, Harry secured the note he’d written to the owl’s leg and he let Malfoy tell the owl where to go. Someone named Missy Fletcher, who was apparently the witch who’d done Draco’s tattoo. Then as the owl smoothly took off out of the room, he went and unwrapped the little mystery tissue present. It was one of the chocolate chip cookies from the cafeteria.

Harry’s stomach growled. Draco rolled his eyes, so he’d definitely heard that. Harry smiled sheepishly and started breaking pieces off the cookie and eating it slowly, savouring the taste. These cookies were easily the best thing they had in the Ministry cafeteria and usually it was an outright battle to get one. Draco knew Harry loved them and somehow, he always managed to get one, no matter the time of day. Harry was convinced he was bribing the lunch lady, he just hadn’t found proof yet.

‘Thanks, do you want the last piece?’ Draco shook his head before Harry had even properly finished the question.

‘No, you need to eat more.’ Harry rolled his eyes.

‘Yes mum.’ Draco glared at him, but his glares had stopped intimidating Harry a long time ago.

They worked in silence for a while and it was comfortable. Harry was just about to finish the last part of his paperwork (the last file in his to do pile!), when suddenly there was the blaring of an alarm. Both him and Draco were out of their seats in a heartbeat. Harry barely managed to grab his coat off the back off his chair before he was out of the door.

They almost ran into Robards who immediately started barking orders.

‘Malfoy, Potter you’re coming with me. Juniors you are staying here, _no arguments_.’ Robards snarled before any of the Junior Aurors trailing after him could even try. If the Junior Aurors were not allowed to come that meant it was serious. Robards turned the alarm off just before they excited the Auror offices.

Robards took off at a run and Harry followed automatically. When Robards ran, you better run too.

‘Where are we going?’ Harry asked as he realized they were heading to the Apparition point. Their offices were close to one so it only took them a minute.

‘The warehouse Weasley and Frost are at.’ Something cold settled into Harry’s stomach. An alarm, no Juniors, Robards running.

‘Are they okay?’

‘Unsure, they sounded the alarm.’ Every Auror was capable of sounding a direct alarm to the offices, but it was only used in extreme circumstances. The other wizards waiting at the Apparition point automatically moved out of the way of the three running Aurors. Robards held out both of his arms. ‘Side-Along, both of you.’ It wasn’t conventional to Side-Along two people, but desperate times…

The familiar sickening feeling of being squeezed and then expanding again wasn’t enough to take away the pure dread in the pit of his stomach. They popped back into existence outside of a warehouse. Harry drew his wand as they approached slowly at first, when they started hearing the sounds of spells smacking into the inside of the warehouse, they picked up the pace.

‘Find Weasley and Frost and get them the hell out of there.’ Robards said sharply, stopping at the small door. Draco and Harry nodded in unison. Harry could feel the adrenaline rush through his system as Robards blasted the door open. Harry was in the door first and he immediately had to cast a Protego. A stunning spell ricochet off it and exploded a crate sitting near the wall. Harry found cover behind a pallet filled with heavy concrete blocks and he surveyed the scene.

He spotted two bright red coats on the other side of the room. He recognized the figure laying motionless on the floor immediately. There was no mistaking that hair.

‘They’re over there!’ He called out, flinching as a spell impacted nearby and blew something up.

There seemed to be at least four attackers if the frequency of the impacts said anything. He made eye-contact with Draco. _Cover me_. He mouthed and Draco got that annoyed pinch between his brows he always did when Harry had one of his “Idiotic Gryffindor Moments”, but he nodded sharply in confirmation. Harry counted down from three and then moved.

Spells slammed into Harry’s Protego, but stopped once Draco fired back a rapid burst of Stunners and Exploders of his own. Whoever these attackers were, they did know what they were doing. After a dead out sprint, Harry skidded to a halt next to Amelia.

The normally calm and kind Auror looked positively furious and send a nasty Stunner over her cover in the general direction of an enemy. Ron’s eyes were closed and Harry’s heart stuttered until he saw Ron’s chest rise on an inhale.

‘We got ambushed.’ Amelia snarled. She was bleeding from a cut along her hairline and she had her free hand resting against her ribs. ‘I don’t know what they hit Ron with, but I put him under a stasis spell. I couldn’t Apparate us out of here and we’re pinned down.’

‘You did good calling for back-up.’ Harry said quickly, sending three Stunners over their cover in the direction of the bad guys. ‘Portkey?’

‘Ron used his yesterday to transport that young witch to St Mungo’s and mine was in my jacket.’ She nodded at a smouldering pile of shredded red fabric a few paces away from them. Harry immediately dug his hand into his inside pocket. He found the keychain shaped like a London taxi and shoved it into Amelia’s hand.

‘I’ll get Draco to take Ron.’ He assured her. He did not feel safe letting her take Ron with the state he was in. She seemed to agree, well, with some of it.

‘Ron should go first.’ She had a stubborn tilt to her chin, but Harry was nothing if not stubborn.

‘If you go, Draco can come here and get him out of here. There’s no space otherwise.’ She glared at Harry, hard, but she clutched the Portkey tight and disappeared. He breathed a sigh of relief, one down. ‘Dray! Get over here!’ Harry called out, motioning for him. Robards had joined Draco behind his cover and counted down on his fingers. On zero Harry fired a rapid burst of spells over his cover, giving Draco the time he needed to get over to Harry. Draco’s shoulder bumped into his as he slid behind cover.

‘Why the hell didn’t you take Weasley with your Portkey?’ Draco snapped, sending a Bombarda over their cover. Harry glared at him.

‘Did you see the cut on Amelia’s forehead? Or how she was clutching her ribs? She wouldn’t have been able to cover you properly. Now get your Portkey and get Ron to St Mungo’s.’ Draco’s head snapped towards him from where he’d been peering out from behind their cover.

‘What? And leave you here? Absolutely not.’

‘I won’t be alone.’ Harry argued. ‘Ron needs medical attention, stop arguing.’

‘Why don’t _you_ take the Portkey and go?’ Draco snapped back. Harry groaned in frustration. Now was _not_ the time for one of their patented arguments. He forced himself not to snap at Draco.

‘Dray, stop arguing and go. Ron needs a hospital. I’m trusting you with him, _please_ go.’ He wasn’t embarrassed to admit he was pleading now. He needed to get both of them out and then him and Robards could decide to either fight or get out of there themselves. Draco stared at him for a second with a clenched jaw and then he deflated. He swiped an annoyed hand through his hair and dug his hand into his inside pocket. His Portkey was a weird little statue of a goblin and he grabbed it tightly before shuffling over to Ron. He tucked his wand away and grabbed Ron’s hand forcing it onto the Portkey.

‘I swear to Merlin Potter, if you get hurt, I am going to kill you.’

‘Empty threats.’ Harry joked, Draco didn’t seem amused.

‘I’m serious, Harry.’ Harry swallowed. Draco didn’t call him Harry like this all that often. When he did he usually wasn’t looking right at him with this intense expression on his face. This was a lot for his poor heart.

‘I know.’ Harry assured him. ‘Go.’ He said just as a Bombarda hit their cover and it shook dangerously. Draco bit out the command for the Portkey to take him to St Mungo’s. It was almost like those steely grey eyes stayed behind a little longer just to stare at him threateningly.

‘Potter, we’re getting out of here.’ Robards called as soon as Draco had disappeared. Okay yeah that seemed like a good idea. These people were not giving up and seemed hellbent on hurting them. Plus, they were outnumbered. He nodded sharply.

‘Are we Apparating?’ He called out. Robards gave a sharp nod in return.

‘To St Mungo’s.’ Harry nodded and he focussed all of his attention on the Wizarding Hospital. There was the familiar nauseating _squeeze_ of Apparition and then he was sitting on the floor in front of the hospital. He immediately pushed himself to his feet and headed for the door. He could hear Robards pop into existence behind him but he didn’t stop to wait. He needed to know how Ron was. Right now.

He pushed the doors open and nearly ran right into Draco. He appeared to have been pacing near the entrance and the second his eyes landed on Harry some of the tension in his spine bled out.

‘Harry.’ There he went again, saying his name like that while looking at him like that. Why was this making Harry feel so unsettled?

‘Hey.’ He managed. ‘How are they?’ Draco headed down the hall and Harry could feel Robards join him.

‘They were taken by Healers, they told me I couldn’t go any further.’ The annoyed tone in Draco’s voice was pretty clear. ‘I’m interested to see if you two get the same treatment.’ Right, that _was_ a thing that happened. Draco was, just like Harry, quite recognizable. There really was no mistaking that hair. So from time to time, people would… refuse Draco things that they would gladly do for or let Harry do. Sometimes Harry used this in their favour, but it always made the discomfort crawl under his skin.

‘I am Head Auror Robards, I would like to know how my people are. Aurors Frost and Weasley?’ Robards stepped up to the Mediwitch behind the counter, doing a great job at sounding important and firm. Kind of like the tone Draco could do very well too. The Mediwitch seemed to want to let Robards in but she glared at Harry and Draco so sharply, he didn’t think his name was going to get him past her. So he let Draco guide him away a little as Robards was let through the door. Draco’s hand on his upper arm was soft and Harry just let himself be led away as he kept his eyes on the door.

‘Someone needs to contact Hermione and- does Amelia have a significant other? Family?’ He suddenly found himself nearly desperate to do _something_. His skin felt itchy, like he wanted to jump out of it.

‘Harry, are you okay?’ Draco asked, his hand tightening a little on Harry’s arm. He realized his feet had been trying to move away and Draco wasn’t letting him.

‘What? Yes, I’m fine. All good. Do you know if Amelia has family?’ The words came out painfully sharp and actually a little panicked. Why the hell was he panicking _now_?

‘I think she’s been seeing someone, but I don’t think it is particularly serious. I think her parents live in Scotland, but her sister lives in London.’ Draco was trying to move him backwards, probably to a chair, but Harry didn’t want to sit down.

‘Okay, she needs to be contacted. Amelia wasn’t as bad but still-‘

‘Harry, sit down.’

‘No.’

‘You’re _shaking_.’ Harry looked down at his hands and yes, they were shaking.

‘It’s just the adrenaline.’ Draco sighed deeply.

‘Look, I’ll go to the Ministry, inform Granger and see what contact info we have on file for Amelia.’ Draco squeezed his arm and Harry looked up at him automatically. He’d been staring blankly at the doors. ‘Would that make you feel better?’ Those silly grey eyes were so sincere, Harry felt a treacherous wave of affection. He forced himself to smile.

‘Yes, that would make me feel better. Thank you Draco.’ He nodded slowly. His smile was still a little tight, but the look in his eyes was genuine.

‘You called me Dray.’ Harry tilted his head in confusion. ‘In the warehouse, you called me Dray, no one has ever called me that before.’

‘Oh,’ Harry blinked at him a few times. He hadn’t even realized he’d called him that. ‘I didn’t realize. Do you mind?’ Draco seemed to consider that for a second.

‘Not necessarily.’ Cryptic, but also not a hard no. ‘I’ll head to the Ministry. Please sit down and drink something.’ Harry nodded, but he also knew he probably wouldn’t, not until he knew if Ron would be okay. Draco gave him a look like he knew exactly what Harry was thinking, but he did leave.

Harry started pacing. It had always been easy to spark an argument between him and Draco. They were both stubborn and Draco knew exactly which buttons to push and the other way around, but this mini-argument had been different. This wasn’t bickering for the sake of bickering or a genuine disagreement on a theory or the approach to a case.

This had been an argument that, at its core, sparked because neither of them wanted to leave the other behind. Harry had won, but the fact that Draco even put up a fight (and not because he didn’t want to be the first one to leave, but because he didn’t want to leave Harry) felt like a big deal. Draco preached self-preservation, but he’d put that aside-

‘Harry!’ Hermione’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. She looked frazzled and scared. Harry hated it when Hermione looked scared. It had been so long since he’d seen that expression on her face and he hadn’t missed it.

‘Hey ‘moine.’ He caught her as she flung herself into his arms.

‘What do you know? Is it bad? Is he okay?’ She pushed herself back, frantically trying to push her hair back behind her ear where it had sprung free from her tight bun.

‘I don’t know, Robards is in there. But he was breathing the whole time.’ He immediately tried to reassure her. She got that determined glint in her eye and suddenly Harry felt a little bad for the Mediwitch behind the counter. Scary as she might be, there was nothing scarier than Hermione Granger on a mission.

As Hermione marched over to the desk, Draco came back through the doors. Now that Harry was actually capable of standing still, he could feel himself sway a little. Draco looked even more pale than he usually did. When had the circles under his eyes become so dark? His eyes drifted from Hermione to Harry, who was still standing. Harry could see him sigh. He seemed to drag himself over to the little table where there was the necessary equipment to make tea and coffee.

Feeling a little bit like a naughty child Harry sat down. His legs felt a little shaky as he stretched them out in front of him. He was surprised to note that the little waiting room was empty apart from the three of them. To Harry’s surprise, Draco brought the first two cups of tea to Hermione and the Mediwitch who was putting up an admirable fight against Hermione. The next two he carried over to Harry.

‘I told you to drink.’

‘You were not gone that long.’ Harry protested without much vigour, inhaling the warm, comforting scent of the tea. ‘Thanks.’

‘Of course. Who else is going to make sure you don’t starve or get dehydrated? Most certainly not you.’

When Robards came out, Hermione was finally allowed in, almost exactly when what had to be Amelia’s sister came bursting into the hospital. Draco had apparently sent her an owl to inform her that her sister had been hurt. She looked like a honey-blonde version of Amelia, maybe a few years older. She didn’t look at any of them, she only seemed to have time and energy to focus on her sister, which was fair.

Harry felt himself relax once Robards came to tell them that the Auror duo would both be perfectly fine. There had been some spell damage to Ron, but the Healers had dealt with it fairly easily and Amelia had also been patched up. They were going to release Amelia in about an hour, that was also when they’d decide if they would keep Ron overnight or let him go as well. Harry nodded in thanks. Robards headed back to the office to update everyone else.

Harry cast a wandless, wordless Tempus and was shocked to realize they’d been here for nearly two hours. When did that happen?

‘Thanks for staying with me and everything, but you could go home and get some rest. Technically our day is over and since Robards was there, he can do the paperwork for this one himself, right?’ Harry offered with a grin. Draco looked at him.

‘Are you telling me I look tired?’

‘Well- I mean- kinda?’ Draco rolled his eyes, but he smiled Harry’s favourite smile. The quiet, exasperated, fond little smile he’d only ever seen him smile for Harry.

‘Well, you are lucky I have more manners than you do, because I can assure you, you look worse than I do.’ Harry let his jaw drop in an exaggerated gasp.

‘Uhm ouch? That hurts my feelings.’ Draco pulled up his nose.

‘I’m just being honest.’ Draco said in that faux-haughty tone before he turned serious again. ‘I’ll go home when you go home.’

‘And what if I’m not planning on going home until Ron goes home?’

‘Then I will stay here with you until Ron goes home. You want _me_ to get a good night’s rest, _you_ will have to get a good night’s rest, sorry Potter, I don’t make the rules.’ Harry narrowed his eyes at him.

‘You are trying to emotionally manipulate me into getting rest.’ He concluded and Draco shrugged casually.

They ended up staying for another hour until both Amelia and Ron were released. Harry wrapped Ron in a tight hug the second he came through the door. He hugged Amelia a little less tightly. They both still looked a little pale, but other than that, no worse for wear. Draco only froze for a second when Amelia stepped into his personal space to give him a quick hug. He patted her on the back a little awkwardly and Harry had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing.

Harry made Ron and Amelia promise to tell them what happened tomorrow, after they’d all gotten some rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I'll be back on Wednesday.
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


	10. The First Tattoo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit of a jumbled mess, but I'm not sure how to make it better so you'll just have to deal with it.  
> After the third break things get a little more dark, but nothing too graphic I don't think.

‘Are you nervous?’ Missy asked. They had just arrived at her little studio tucked away in a tiny building in Holyhead in Wales. Harry had no idea how Draco had found her. He’d been in Holyhead before to watch Ginny play, but he’d never actually properly visited the town. He’d been around when Ginny went to look for her own apartment (Molly was tearful but understanding), but then he’d just been dragged around to look at several different places that all seemed equally nice to him.

‘Not really.’ Harry said with a smile. The place looked amazing. There were drawings all over the place. Missy was clearly very talented. She also looked pretty much exactly like what Harry expected a tattoo artist to look like.

She seemed to be in her late thirties. Her hair was a dark purple and cut in a messy bob. She had tattoos all over her arms (which she was showing off by wearing a sleeveless shirt). She had an easy grin and she seemed so comfortable in her space and her art that Harry wasn’t even lying. He wasn’t nervous.

‘Alright, that’s good. So you’re getting the stag and the doe today, right?’ She asked, patting a chair for Harry to sit in.

‘Yes, just that one today.’ Harry nodded. The two of them had exchanged a few messages talking about what exactly Harry wanted and somehow he’d ended up with ideas for far more than just one. Draco seemed surprised by this.

‘You’re just getting your first one and you’re already planning more?’ Draco asked, sitting in the second chair near the wall. He was dressed in one of his fancy Muggle outfits, charcoal pants, blue/green-ish button up and a waistcoat in the colour of his pants. He looked hilariously out of place. Not that he seemed to notice that himself. He seemed perfectly at ease, one of his ridiculously long legs crossed over the other, his hands folded under his chin.

Harry shrugged.

‘What can I say, I have terrible impulse control.’ Draco rolled his eyes and murmured something that sounded suspiciously like “bloody tell me about it”. Missy laughed and turned to Harry.

‘Alright Harry, I am going to need you to take off your shirt.’ Harry nodded and easily pulled the plain black tee over his head. Draco had scoffed at his outfit, but now Harry could smile smugly at him. Draco’s eyes, however, were not on Harry’s face. Huh, interesting. ‘And you’re going to need to lay down.’ Missy added and the chair Harry was sitting on smoothly transformed into what was practically a bed.

‘Nice.’ Harry shifted a little to get comfortable.

‘Okay, now I already explained most of this to you in our correspondence, but basically as I apply the ink I will also be infusing the magic that will make it move. Now I can’t use your magic for that obviously, I have to use my own. That means that it can hurt from time to time as I apply it and it might be itchy for a day or two after, if it lasts any longer, you might have to come back so I can see what’s up.’ Harry nodded. He’d read all of the information she’d send him more than once.

Unlike what Draco and Hermione seemed to believe, he _had_ in fact put thought into this. A lot of it. All of his life he’d had people look at him and then their eyes would dart up to his scar. Ever since he was a baby he’d been marked with something he had no choice in. He had never gotten to _choose_. Now that he was an adult (and yes that was still strange), he could make his own choices and he wanted to get a tattoo to represent his parents. He wanted to have a reminder of them that wasn’t a lightning bolt on his forehead. That was a reminder of their sacrifice, he wanted a reminder of their _life_.

‘Alright, now, here’s the final design.’ She handed him a sheet of thick parchment paper. ‘Take a good look at it, tell me if there’s anything you want to change, even if it is just a detail.’

‘I will.’ Harry said before he took a good look at the drawing.

It was amazing. The image was basically just the solid black silhouettes of a stag and a doe. They were running, looking free and happy and wild and Harry loved it. There was a joy to the way they moved that made him feel a little chocked up. He looked up at Missy.

‘It’s perfect.’ He automatically passed the parchment to Draco next. He almost didn’t even register the surprise on his face. Harry made sure to smile as Draco accepted the parchment.

‘I’ll start on the prep.’ Amelia said, but Harry was unable to take his eyes off Draco as he studied the tattoo. There was something so soft and wistful in his face, something he didn’t think he’d ever seen on him before. Something longing. Oh.

Harry wanted to ask if he missed his parents, but he managed to stop the words before they tumbled out. Draco would not appreciate a question like that in front of someone he didn’t trust. Harry filed it away for later. Draco swallowed, pulled his face back into his blank mask and nodded.

‘It’s very nice.’ Glowing reviews.

‘Alright.’ Missy said, rolling her chair around so that she was properly on Harry’s side now. She’d brought along a little tray and some instruments that Harry wouldn’t even dare to try and name. ‘So we’re having it run along your hip right? She motioned at the skin about an inch or two above the waistband of Harry’s jeans.

‘Yeah.’ He nodded. ‘From my hip to about my belly button.’ She pulled on some very Muggle looking rubber gloves and clapped her hands together.

‘Alright, then we’re ready to start.’

Harry didn’t look at the process, but it definitely felt weird. Occasionally there would be shots of pain along his side but it was honestly not as bad as he’d expected. Or maybe he’d just been through worse. It took about an hour before Missy made a satisfied humming noise and Harry turned to look as she cast a final spell that settled over Harry’s side with a tingle.

‘All done.’ She said with a bright grin. Harry let his eyes travel down his own torso.

It was exactly like he’d pictured it. The two black silhouettes were clearly visible, even on Harry’s darker skin tone. The two deer looked free and _happy_ and Harry could feel the emotions roll through his system. This is how he wanted to remember them, like the two smiling people in the photograph he had. Alive and warm and free. He blinked back his tears as he looked back up at Missy, whose grin had softened into a warm smile.

‘Thank you.’ He managed without letting the tears spill.

‘You’re welcome.’

Harry almost didn’t want to put his shirt back on and he spend about five minutes staring at his new tattoo in the mirror Missy had set up for this exact purpose.

‘I will be back.’ He promised as he paid her and she smiled cheerfully.

‘I am looking forward to it.’ She didn’t count the galleons he handed over and that somehow felt nice. He did put his shirt back on, but he kept wanting to look at his side to make sure it was still there.

‘So, you seem happy.’ Draco said as they stepped out into the sunshine. It was a ridiculously nice day, the weather seemed to reflect his mood.

‘I am very happy. Let’s go get some lunch.’ Draco tilted his head but shrugged.

‘Alright.’ The two of them headed down the quiet street towards the centre of town.

‘There’s something I wanted to ask, but I didn’t want to ask in front of Missy.’ Harry said and Draco glanced at him. ‘Do you miss your parents?’ Draco’s steps faltered for a second before he managed to find his rhythm again. He didn’t immediately snap at Harry.

‘I don’t miss how it was in the end.’ Draco said, looking straight ahead. ‘But, I guess I do miss how things were in my childhood sometimes.’ He swallowed and a wry smile spread over his face. ‘It wasn’t perfect, but my father wasn’t a bad man.’ Harry wasn’t sure if he agreed on that, but then again, how well had he known Lucius Malfoy? ‘He really changed after our fourth year.’ After Voldemort came back.

‘What _was_ he like?’ Draco looked a little surprised.

‘Well, I know this might surprise you, but he was a good father. He didn’t treat me badly and I never felt pressured, not until the Dark Lord came back.’ Draco said. ‘He was never the warmest, but I know he loved me. He loved me and he loved my mother and I think he didn’t ever feel like he had much of a choice either.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Well, he never said this outright but I think he felt like he made his choice during the first war. I don’t think he gave himself a second chance.’ Not like Draco did. ‘At the end, I don’t think my father believed the Dark Lord would win, but he did, of course, believe in what the Dark Lord was preaching.’

‘You didn’t?’

‘I believed what my father taught me, but then I got to Hogwarts and I did start to have doubts. However when the Dark Lord returned it was like… like my choice got taken away as much as my father’s. I was a Malfoy, therefor I was on the dark side. I was a Slytherin, so I was on the dark side. Everyone expected me to go dark, so I did.’ He shrugged, far too casual for the topic of conversation. ‘By the time I realized what a mistake I’d made, I was in too deep.’ Draco bumped his shoulder against Harry’s in a casual gesture, but the look on his face told Harry that he was fighting his emotions. ‘And then you gave me a second chance and you forced everyone else to do the same.’

‘You deserved it.’

‘Did I?’

‘Yes. We all did things during the war we’re not proud of. I know I did, but I’m Harry Potter so no one judged me for it. You deserve better than what they were going to give you.’ Draco stopped walking. Harry stopped and looked back at him. His face was blank but his eyes were searching Harry’s face.

‘You are a strange creature, Harry Potter.’

‘I’m pretty sure you’ve told me that before.’

‘Well than it must be true.’ Harry rolled his eyes.

‘Come on, I’m hungry.’ Harry started walking again. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling. He was just… happy. It was his day off, he’d gotten his first tattoo, Draco was here, the sun was out. It was a good day.

And it was a good lunch. Draco insisted on paying and Harry only argued a little. He’d visited his vault the other day (the goblins still didn’t like him much after the whole “destroying their building while escaping on a dragon” thing) and he pretty much had more money than he really knew what to do with. Especially because anything that the Ministry had taken from Sirius had been returned and given to Harry, since he’d been falsely convicted.

After lunch, they went their separate ways and Harry found himself sitting on his couch grinning stupidly at the wall. It had been his favourite Saturday in a while- wait. Saturday? Didn’t Draco have his Slytherin lunch on Saturday’s? Yeah no, Harry remembered because he’d joined them at some point. Had Draco blown off his friends to have lunch with Harry? He hadn’t even hesitated or mentioned he had somewhere else to be. Huh. Maybe they’d skipped a week? Maybe he’d already said he wouldn’t join them because he knew his thing with Harry might run late?

Harry didn’t enjoy coming to Diagon Alley much anymore. The magic that had surrounded the place when he was younger just wasn’t quite there anymore. Especially when people stared at him like this. He generally tried to be a little more inconspicuous when he came here but today he’d come straight from work and he was wearing his Auror coat. He tried to ignore the stares and just get what he needed and get out, but all those eyes on him made his skin feel itchy.

When he was alone it was especially bad because he couldn’t drown himself in a conversation with someone and pretend not to notice.

He was so caught up in pretending not to notice anything that he nearly ran in to someone. He sidestepped at the last second.

‘Oh, sorry.’ He said. The young woman turned and looked at him with dark eyes.

‘Potter.’ She said in surprise.

‘Oh.’ Harry recognized her. ‘Parkinson.’ She grinned.

‘It’s been a while.’

‘Yes it has.’ He said, she looked different. Good different. More relaxed. ‘How have you been?’

‘Good.’ Her smile turned a little calculating. ‘I heard you had lunch with Draco the other day, on a weekend?’ Ah, right.

‘Yes, sorry for keeping him from your weekly lunch. I didn’t realize until later.’ Harry said with a small flinch.

‘Oh no it’s fine, he already told us he was going to miss that week.’ Ah, so as usual, Draco had planned ahead.

‘Oh that’s good.’ Harry could feel the awkwardness creeping in. They’d been fine while they’d been in a bigger group, but now he didn’t really know what to say. Luckily, Parkinson seemed to have had lessons on this, maybe in pureblood school or something.

‘It was good to see you, you should join us on another lunch soon.’ She said with a clearly perfected friendly smile.

‘Ah, yes. I will try.’

‘Good.’ She turned in a flurry of dark hair and a sharp smile and then she was gone. Harry breathed out, releasing tension he wasn’t even aware he’d been holding. He was almost a little annoyed with himself that he couldn’t talk to her like he could talk to Ron or Hermione or Neville or Ginny. Their history was exactly that: history. He vowed that he’d ask Draco if he could join them for another Saturday lunch soon.

Harry found himself standing in a room in a house on the outskirts of London. It had looked abandoned at first and once you stepped through the Glamours, it honestly didn’t get much better. Just more bloody. It had to be one of the worst locations they’d been at.

They had already had a Junior Auror practically running out of the location while looking green and honestly, Harry was about three seconds away from doing the same. The wizard that lived here had been a very disturbed individual. There were, for lack of a better word, _parts_ of all kinds of creatures everywhere and the _blood_. It was everywhere. The place stank of rot and decay and death.

From what they understood, the wizard had become sick, and when no Healer could help him he’d turned to making sacrifices. He had convinced himself that killing all of these innocent creatures would heal him and they’d only figured it out when he kidnapped a young wizard to be his final sacrifice.

The young wizard’s name had been Rory and he’d only been seventeen. They were too late. Harry had taken one look at the body and left the room. He couldn’t. He wanted to force himself to go back in there and do what needed to be done to find the crazy bastard who had done this, but he couldn’t make his feet move. He just _couldn’t_ , so he’d gone back down the rickety stairs careful not to touch anything and now he’d been standing near the front door for the last few minutes, trying to decide if he was walking out of there or not.

He didn’t want to see this. This was not what he needed in his life. He already knew there was darkness out there, he didn’t need it stuck in his face like this.

The Hit Wizards were out searching for the murderous lunatic and Harry couldn’t even make his feet move. Just- all of this destruction and why? What for? He must have looked upset because Blueroot stopped next to him from where he’d been heading into the house and looked at Harry with an uncomfortable expression.

‘Oh um, that bad?’ Harry just gave him a curt nod and he flinched a little, but he did move further into the house. Dawlish came down the stairs, looking stoic.

‘Need a breather, Potter?’ There was no judgement in the question, which he appreciated. Dawlish had been doing this a lot longer than Harry. ‘You should take Malfoy with you, if he gets any paler I’m gonna confuse him for a ghost.’ He motioned at the stairs behind him where Harry could just see the shiny dark shoes of his partner appear. As his hands appeared Harry could see they were clenched in fists. He did look pale and like he was trying his hardest not to show how disturbed he was.

‘We’re going to get some air.’ Harry forced the words out of his mouth and he forced his feet into motion. Dawlish nodded and motioned towards the backyard.

‘There’s no one out back.’ There were reporters at the front of the house, falling over each other to try and get the story first. Thinking about them made Harry feel even more sick. Harry pushed the door open with his magic, unwilling to touch anything here with his bare hands.

The backyard was overgrown and wild, but quiet and the air smelled clean. Harry stared for a minute, just taking in the clean greens and browns of nature.

‘Are you okay?’ Draco asked and Harry turned to face him. He looked slightly better, still tired and weary, but less nauseous.

‘Not really.’ Harry admitted. ‘I just- I don’t understand how you could do that to another living thing. It makes me sick.’

‘It is the worst I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot.’ Draco crossed his arms in front of his chest, pulling the red coat taut over his shoulders.

‘Not even Death Eaters went this far, huh?’

‘My aunt Bellatrix probably would have, but I never saw any of it.’ The name alone sent a hot flare of hatred up Harry’s spine. ‘She was insane.’

‘I know.’

They fell back into silence for a while. A few times, Harry tried to make himself say that they should go back inside, but the words wouldn’t come. He didn’t want to go back, he wanted to go home.

‘Maybe you should go home.’ Draco offered. ‘You don’t look much better than when we went outside.’ Draco did, in fact look a bit better.

‘How do you do that? How are you just okay again?’ Harry flinched at the desperation in his own voice.

‘I’m not okay, but I put my feelings aside and focus on what I have to do right now and deal with the feelings later… or not at all.’ He added with a wry smile.

‘I don’t think I can do that.’ Harry said and he had to swallow down the near overwhelming wave of emotions. Draco nodded slowly.

‘I think you need a break. We’ve had a lot of rough cases lately. Talk to Robards, take a week off.’ Draco said. ‘We haven’t really had any time off since we started.’

That was true. In the years they’d been doing this, they’d never taken a single holiday. They had the weekends off, mostly, if they weren’t wrapped up in a case. Maybe a little break wasn’t such a bad idea.

‘Okay, but if I take a break, you’re taking a break too.’ He wasn’t about to get rest while Draco did the work for the both of them. Draco rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.

‘I suppose.’ He said with a put-upon sigh. ‘It’s not our case anyways, we can let someone else handle it for once.’ That set a pit of guilt in Harry’s stomach, but for once, he ignored it. Draco was right, they needed a break. He couldn’t remember the last time Draco didn’t have dark circles under his eyes, or the last time Harry had not been thinking about a case until he fell asleep.

‘I’ll go talk to Robards.’ Harry said firmly. He was more likely to listen to Harry anyways.

So he went and found Robards and just told him straight up that he needed a break. Robards looked at him up and down and nodded.

‘Yes, I was wondering when you were going to come and ask for one. You need to take better care of yourself, Potter. I’m not going to do it for you.’ No, but Draco would.

‘Thank you sir.’

‘I will see you in seven days.’ Harry nodded sharply before hurrying out of the house, away from the smell and the blood and the death. Draco was waiting for him at the door.

‘Let’s go.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! The next chapter will be on Friday.
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


	11. The Assignment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Heya!  
> Thank you for all the lovely comments, I really appreciate it!

Harry did absolutely nothing for six days out of his week. He didn’t do much except sleep, eat and sleep some more. He missed Draco like something fierce, but he wanted to test how long he could go without him before he drove himself mad. Apparently, he could handle a week.

Not that they didn’t talk. Harry send a note their first official day off and they wrote back and forth about menial things for the rest of their week off. Draco told him about the books he was reading and how the garden was doing. There was an invitation between the lines there somewhere, but the effort to make himself look presentable (Meaning: Putting on something that wasn’t pjs) seemed like a task he just couldn’t put himself to. Instead he told Draco about all the things he was cooking and then eating.

The nights were the worst. After that last case he only seemed to be capable of sleeping in short stretches of about an hour, maybe two. Hence the sleeping, eating, sleeping some more. There wasn’t even a specific nightmare or anything. His dreams were just a whirlwind of death and destruction and the people closest to him getting hurt. Sirius was in his dreams a lot, so were Ron and Hermione, Ginny and Neville and Draco. Oh Merlin the ones with Draco were some of the _worst_.

It was probably because the nightmares with his old friends were familiar by now. He knew what to expect, but with Draco, his dreams were new and his mind was _creative_. He saw Draco fall into the Fiendfyre, he saw him fall off the Astronomy tower, he saw a green curse fly at him, so many of their cases where the scales tipped just the other way, he saw him bleeding out on the floor of a Hogwarts bathroom. Over and over and over again.

So, in a show of truly _amazing_ self-control, he went back to Missy and got two more tattoos.

There was something calming about the process of getting them. The thought that he put in it, the focus it asked of him. The making of a serious decision that _wasn’t_ life or death.

So he got paw prints walking up his right side for Sirius and the Whomping Willow that would actually change seasons on his right shoulder blade for Remus. He got them both in one sitting and on the last day of his break. It just felt right to have them with him as well. They’d been so important to him growing up, both in their own ways.

When he saw Draco the next day, it was like he just _knew_. He tipped his head and looked at Harry with a searching expression.

‘You look much better.’ The same could be said for Draco. He’d finally lost the dark circles under his eyes and his skin overall looked less translucent.

‘I feel better.’ Harry hung his coat on the hook next to the door.

‘Well that’s good, because Robards was just here and we have a new case.’ Draco nodded at the file on Harry’s desk. ‘Hit Wizards found a warehouse full of illegally acquired potions ingredients.’

‘And they want you on it because you’re our resident potions expert.’ Harry sighed but flopped down in his chair and flipped the file open. Harry hated the potions cases. ‘This is the one downside of working with you.’

‘The only one?’ Draco asked, disbelieve clear in his voice. Harry looked up with a grin.

‘I never did like Potions.’ Draco rolled his eyes.

‘You don’t have the attention span for it.’ He sighed. ‘You have always gotten by on your natural talent and power, potions requires attention to detail and patience.’

‘I can pay attention to details.’ Harry argued. ‘Potions is just tedious and some of the instructions are far too specific.’

‘It works the same in Charms though, or Transfiguration. Except when it comes to magic, you can will those subjects into submission, you can’t do that with Potions.’ Draco had a small smirk on his face and it made Harry narrow his eyes.

‘Are you- are you just proud that you’re better at something than I am?’

‘I am better than you at many things.’

‘So humble too.’

‘Humility has never gotten anyone anywhere.’ Harry rolled his eyes. Damn Slytherins.

‘Just tell me about the case oh wise Potions Master.’ Harry made an impatient motion with his hand.

Draco told him about the case as Harry read. It seemed fairly easy, they just needed to find who the ingredients in this warehouse belonged to. It _seemed_ pretty straight forward.

However, the universe clearly hated him because it was not simple. Well, finding the man responsible was, he really hadn’t made that big of an effort to conceal his identity, but the arrest wasn’t. They could have just send the Hit Wizards after the guy, but from the description they had he seemed like a nervous, squirrely kind of guy. Not exactly a huge danger.

They hadn’t accounted for his kitchen basically being one big potions lab.

The green substance that he send flying at Harry’s head smelled like death. Harry only just had time to raise his hands to stop the stuff from getting in his eyes, but he could feel some of it splash against his mouth and against bare skin.

The feeling was like needles stabbing him everywhere the stuff had hit bare skin. He could feel his temperature soar and he remembered feeling like he couldn’t breathe.

The next thing he remembered was waking up in St Mungo’s.

He tried to flinch away from the bright light. He wanted to bring his hand up to his face to cover his eyes, but he couldn’t seem to move them. What the fuck? There was a pitiful groaning noise that he recognized to be himself. The lights dimmed though, so whatever he did, it worked.

‘Harry?’ The voice was very familiar, but he wasn’t wearing his glasses and so everything was hazy. ‘You’re alright, just stay still, I’ll get your glasses.’ He still couldn’t quite identify the voice, but he just automatically trusted it. ‘I’m going to put them on you now.’

Everything finally went into focus and Harry just had time to register two pale hands pulling away from him with familiar long, slim fingers. Draco.

‘What happened? Why can’t I move my arms?’ Harry managed to ask, although the words were a little garbled.

‘You were poisoned.’ He could hear that Draco’s jaw was clenched, even if he couldn’t really see him. ‘The stuff the suspect threw at you was a poison, it got in your system. You can’t move your arms because they had to restrain you. You were fighting the Healers, screaming bloody murder and throwing punches. They’re investigating what exactly was in the poison now.’

‘Oh.’ Harry said. ‘Can you undo the restraints please? I won’t try to punch you, I promise.’ Draco hit whatever was binding Harry with a _Finite_ and it was wonderful. Harry flexed his hands and rolled his shoulders. He turned so he could properly see Draco. He looked very blank, which meant he was probably upset. ‘Was it bad?’ Draco rolled his eyes.

‘Yes Potter, it was bad.’ Draco moved so that Harry could look at him a little easier. He had his arms crossed tightly. ‘Whatever it was, your temperature _soared_ , that is generally not good for a body.’

‘Right.’ Harry remembered the sensation of feeling like he was burning up. That had apparently not been an exaggeration. ‘I’m better now though?’

‘You _just_ had a week off and the first thing you do when you get back is get hurt. I don’t know what to do with you Potter.’ Draco turned his back to Harry, his voice stayed perfectly level, but that usually meant he was trying to hide something.

‘I feel fine now. I’m fine.’ Harry stressed again. ‘That’s why we’re a duo, right? So we can look out for each other?’

‘I don’t like seeing you get hurt.’ Draco sounded like he pushed it out through clenched jaws.

‘I don’t like seeing you get hurt either. I think that’s kind of a given at this point.’ Harry said and Draco sighed before turning back around.

‘Would you just please be a little more careful?’ He sounded so earnest for a second. Too bad he ruined it by following it up with: ‘The St Mungo’s hospital gowns are not a good look on you.’

Harry was released the same day and the guy who threw the poison at him was caught by Hit Wizards the next. All in all, a pretty chaotic return to work, not his greatest week ever.

‘Malfoy, come with me.’ Robards leaned into their office, his face serious, as always. Draco only blinked once before answering, perfectly polite.

‘Yes sir.’ Robards left the door open as he disappeared and Harry made a face at Draco.

‘What’s that about?’

‘I don’t know. He never comes in just to ask for me.’ Harry nodded in agreement.

‘Do you want me to come with?’

‘No, I’ll be fine. If not, I’ll scream.’ He added with a grin, but Harry could read the discomfort under it. Despite the fact that they’d been doing this for over two years now, Draco was still convinced they would one day just, fire him. Harry knew he would riot if that happened.

‘You do that.’ Harry sighed and he turned back to his paperwork as Draco left the room.

Harry worked on his paperwork for a while. It was perfectly boring as usual. It wasn’t until he finished his report and dropped it in his outbox where it disappeared with a soft _ting_ that he realized Draco had been gone for a while. He checked the clock. He’d been gone for thirty minutes, nothing too crazy for a meeting or briefing, but too long for a simple conversation.

Harry shook it off, Draco hadn’t done anything bad and if there was a case, Harry would have been invited too. Maybe Draco had just decided to get them some coffee while he was out.

As thirty minutes stretched into an hour, Harry got worried. An hour was too long, where was he? What was happening? Harry had to grip his desk until his knuckled went white to stop himself from getting up and marching into Robards office. Draco was _fine_. Maybe they just needed his expertise on a case. If this was about some complicated potion, Harry would be useless, it would be logical to leave him in the office to do something productive while Draco did his thing.

It was fine.

When their door opened an hour and a half after Draco had left Harry really couldn’t be faulted for his first words being:

‘Are you okay?’ Draco looked a little shellshocked. Like he wasn’t entirely sure what just happened.

‘Yes, I’m fine.’

‘What was that all about? You were gone for ages.’

‘Missed my sparkling personality, didn’t you, Potter?’ Draco asked with a grin but Harry didn’t laugh. He didn’t see the humour. Draco noticed pretty quickly. ‘Okay.’ He said drawing the word out.

‘Just tell me what’s going on. I was worried.’ Harry didn’t mean for his voice to come out that sincere, but it did.

‘Relax, Harry. It’s good news, they finally, _actually_ trust me.’ Draco dropped himself in his chair with uncharacteristic loose limbs. ‘They’re sending me undercover.’ Harry’s fingers froze in the middle of the rhythm he’d been tapping.

‘Excuse me?’ _Undercover?_ That did not sound like good news. ‘Undercover?’

‘Yes, there’s been a string of witches and wizards ending up in St Mungo’s after taking bad potions. They figured out that these potions all came from the same supplier. An unidentified group that sells these potions for almost half the price their competition does. The potions are obviously made with bad ingredients or just bad intent, but wizardfolk still buy them because they’re cheap. They can’t seem to get anything on these people so they want me to infiltrate, get the intel we need to take them down and get out.’ Draco explained. He looked _excited_.

‘That sounds dangerous. How are you going to obscure your identity? What if they make you take Veritaserum to prove you’re not a spy? They expect you to go in alone?’ Harry asked and some of the excitement disappeared from Draco’s face. That hurt a little, Harry never wanted to do that. Draco looked excited so rarely.

‘Well, that’s what we were discussing. They think this supplier might be part of a larger network and they want to take out the whole thing in one go, make sure to kill it at the roots. They think this might take months-‘

‘ _Months?_ ’ Harry asked, mildly horrified. ‘Where am I in all of this?’ Draco actually looked a little guilty at that.

‘Well, this is technically still Dawlish and Proudfoot’s case, they’re just bringing me in. You’ll probably have to work with a Junior Auror for a while.’

‘I won’t be allowed to be there as back-up?’ Harry could feel the uncertainty and the icy cold fingers of dread crawl up his spine.

‘I’ll be undercover, so no.’ Draco sighed. ‘Relax, Potter, I’m a big boy, I’ll be fine.’ Harry tried not to sound like he didn’t believe a word of it.

‘I know you are, you’re good at what you do, I just don’t like the idea that I won’t be there.’

‘To be honest,’ Draco said, looking studiously at his papers as he shuffled them around on his desk. ‘Neither do I.’ He seemed to get whatever was on his face under control and he looked up again. His grin wasn’t quite convincing, the uncertainty was easy to read. ‘Although, considering our last potions case ended with you in St Mungo’s I’m also kind of relieved.’ Harry rolled his eyes.

‘That was months ago.’ Harry stopped himself from arguing, recognizing the distraction for what it was. ‘You still haven’t told me how they’re planning on concealing your identity if you’re going to be undercover for months.’ Draco actually flinched a little at that.

‘Yes well, I was putting off telling you.’ He looked mildly concerned. ‘You’re not going to like this part.’

‘I didn’t even like the first part.’

‘I know, but you’re going to like this even less.’ Harry forced himself to take a deep breath before Draco continued. ‘As we’ve discussed before, I have a recognizable face, much like yours, so going in with my own face seemed like a no-go. When I graduated as an Auror it was all over the papers and we’ve been in them since. Anything else we could do would either be too risky or unsustainable. So, Amelia had the idea to make it as real as possible. That way if they have me take Veritaserum, I’ll be able to pass because I won’t _technically_ be lying.’ Draco paused before continuing. ‘The plan is to fire me, publicly and then have me approach them pretending like I am a scorned ex-employee wanting to stick it to the Ministry. With my family’s history it shouldn’t be that hard to convince them it’s true.’

Harry knew his silence was a big red flag. He just couldn’t let himself bite out the first thing in his head which was a resounding “ _no”_ followed closely by “where the bloody fuck is Amelia I am going to kill her”. 

‘They want to fire you.’ Harry said, forcing his voice to sound calm.

‘It’s the best option-‘ Harry pushed himself up off his chair and rounded his desk.

‘Yes, I got that.’ Harry bit out before snapping his mouth shut and forcing himself to breathe. ‘Polyjuice?’ He started to pace between their desks.

‘It’s too risky, if I got stuck with them for longer than planned it could start to ware off or I could run out.’

‘Crouch Junior did it for nearly an entire year while pretending to be Moody.’ Harry argued.

‘Yes and how did that end up going for him?’

‘That was only after a year.’

‘We don’t know how long this will take, Harry and I’ll be under more scrutiny than he was.’ Harry could feel his heart squeeze at the thought of Draco going undercover for a _year_. He stopped and turned to face Draco, sitting on the edge of his own desk.

‘Will I not see you at all?’ Draco’s face softened. It wasn’t a look Harry got to see often so he tried to drink in all of the details off it. Draco pushed his chair back and got up. He rounded his own desk and leaned on the edge, facing Harry.

‘Probably not. We couldn’t risk being seen together.’ Draco said softly. ‘It would only put me in danger.’

‘When?’

‘Soon.’ Draco said. ‘They have a patient currently in St Mungo’s that doesn’t look like they’ll make it. It would be the first death from these potions, but it won’t be the last. They need to be stopped.’ Harry nodded, not knowing what to say to that. If this had been the other way around, he knew he would have taken the assignment too, he just hated the idea of Draco going off without him, without any back-up.

‘I hate it, but I understand.’ Harry had to force the words out of his mouth, even if he did mean them. The relief in Draco’s face was nearly painful. ‘I’ll miss you.’ The words slipped out before Harry had a chance to stop them. Draco had been moving to push himself off his desk, but he froze at Harry’s words. He let himself rest against the desk again with careful movements, like he was afraid to startle Harry.

‘I’ll miss you too.’ The words were as earnest as anything that came out of Draco’s mouth. Harry pushed himself off his desk and stepped closer to Draco. He didn’t miss the way his breath hitched, but he ignored it.

‘If you’re going to go off and be a hero, you should give me a hug first.’ He said, trying to sound casual. ‘It’s tradition.’ Draco raised an eyebrow, but it wasn’t nearly as sassy as it usually was.

‘Is that so.’

‘Uh huh.’ Harry said. Trying to look as relaxed as possible. Draco nodded slowly a few times.

‘Alright, well. If it is tradition and you’re still alive, somehow, it must be good luck too.’

‘Must be.’ Harry agreed.

This was a moment.

They were having a moment.

He’d been unable to look away from those pale grey eyes since he’d gotten close enough to touch. There was a warmth in them that Harry only ever saw around himself and he’d seen once around Narcissa. Something different than what was on his face around his friends.

The only reason he didn’t miss the flicker of Draco’s eyes down to his mouth was because he was staring at him so hard. If he would have blinked, he’d have missed it. He didn’t miss it.

Draco pushed himself off his desk and stood up straight. He was taller than Harry, when they were this close those few inches really mattered. Draco reached out and Harry let himself be pulled into a hug. He rose on his tiptoes so that he could hook his chin over Draco’s shoulder. A few strands of his silky hair brushed past the side of Harry’s face. Draco had been right, it was very soft. His arms were a little hesitant, but as Harry held on a little tighter, so did Draco. Harry fought with himself to make sure he didn’t burrow his face in Draco’s neck.

Friends. A friend hug. Sort of. A maybe-more-than-friends hug. A you-just-glanced-at-my-mouth-but-I-don’t-know-what-we’re-doing hug. A hug to try and make sure the guy you were half-way in love with didn’t die.

Oh. Ah bloody fucking shite. When the fuck did he fall in love? This was just plain terrible timing on his part. As usual.

Harry cleared his throat as he stepped back.

‘Just- just don’t die, okay Malfoy?’ He wasn’t sure why he suddenly slipped back into the last name habit, but he did. Distance. If Draco was really leaving for months, maybe a year, Harry needed distance. He’d lose his mind otherwise.

‘Oh please, you’re not getting rid of me that easily Potter.’ It seemed like he wasn’t the only one in need of some distance. Harry rolled his eyes, just because that was expected of him. He didn’t allow himself to swallow until he turned away to get back behind his desk.

The plan was set in motion three days later. 

Draco was “fired” very publicly. Harry wasn’t allowed to throw a fuzz about it, people had to see that he was on the side of the Ministry, to make it believable. Harry hated every single second of it. Draco played it like a champ. The confusion bleeding into indignation bleeding into cold fury. He stormed out and Ron had to put his hand on Harry’s arm to stop him from following.

Harry spend the rest of that day sitting in their office, alone, staring at the wall trying to make sure he didn’t run out the door to go find Draco. He tried to do paperwork. He tried to make himself have lunch, but the pit in his stomach just wouldn’t go away.

It all felt just a little too real.

Their excuse for firing Draco had been that he’d supposedly used and Unforgivable on a suspect to make him talk. It was all lies, but the ease with which those not in the know accepted it made Harry feel physically sick. So many people came up to him that day saying things like “it’s not your fault Potter, some people are just bad” and “I knew he hadn’t really changed, snakes never really change”, Harry bit the inside of his cheek until it was bleeding. The coppery taste in his mouth felt fitting.

The worst part was that he couldn’t even defend Draco- Malfoy- Harry had to go back to calling him _Malfoy_.

He tried to constantly remind himself that Dra-Malfoy wanted to do this. That he wanted to help take these people down, that he’d agreed to this plan, but it wasn’t easy.

He was beyond happy that Ron and Amelia knew about the plan. Proudfoot, Dawlish, Robards, Ron, Amelia and Harry were the only ones who knew within the department. Proudfoot and Dawlish because it was their case, Robards because he was the Head Auror, Harry because he was Draco’s partner and Ron and Amelia because she’d come up with the idea initially.

Gaulding however, went from someone Harry just didn’t want to be around, to someone Harry wanted to actively hurt. He was so _smug_. Saying he’d known all along. That he’d never trusted him. That he’d been right. Harry hated him. Gaulding even had the guts to try and get Harry to be his partner now that Dra- _Malfoy_ was gone. Harry clenched his jaw so tightly he felt something crack. Luckily, Robards wasn’t very impressed and the Junior Auror that was Harry’s replacement partner wasn’t intimidated by Gaulding and she told him to “bloody well stop trying to steal her partner or she’d hex him”.

Her name was Rosella Young and she was feisty. She actually reminded Harry of himself a little before he learned to (somewhat) control his temper. Her parents had wanted her to pursue a nice and safe career but she had hated every second of it. So after a few years of doing that, she’d decided she was now going to try things her way.

She was beautiful with her gold blonde hair and her dark mysterious eyes, she was fun and she had a spark and yet… she just wasn’t Draco.

In their first week of working together she told him that if he ever tried to ask her out, she’d kick him so hard he’d sing soprano for a week. Harry had spit out his coffee.

The unfortunate thing about Gaulding was his “connections”, his father was high up in the DMLE and he forced Robards’ hand. Meaning they ended up in a weird foursome situation where Gaulding only really wanted to work with Harry, Harry only really wanted to work with Young, Young despised both Blueroot and Gaulding and Blueroot was just sort of… along for the ride.

The only reason Harry didn’t go and complain to Robards about it was because he knew it wasn’t exactly his choice either. He’d basically lost an Auror duo because now he always had to assign both Harry’s team and Gaulding’s team to the same case and they didn’t even work well together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be back on Sunday!
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


	12. The Reunion

‘No, absolutely not.’

‘It’s _obvious._ ’

‘Yes exactly, it’s too obvious. Have you never heard of a fake-out?’

‘That’s ridiculous, why would someone go through all this trouble to-‘

‘Frame him? Because they want him out of the way.’ Harry threw his hands up in frustration. He was going to _kill_ Gaulding. It had only been a month since Drac- _Malfoy_ had gone undercover and Gaulding had already driven Harry to his breaking point. He was insufferable. ‘I need a break.’ Harry bit out before storming from the room. He could hear the tell-tale footsteps of Young following him.

Harry walked into their office, knowing she’d shut the door behind them. He still wasn’t used to Malfoy’s name not being on the door anymore.

‘If you’re going to kill him, let me know. I’ll be your alibi.’ Young said after she’d closed the door. ‘Or if you need help, I’ll help, we can be each other’s alibi.’

‘He just refuses to see reason.’ Harry bit out. ‘How he ever closes any cases is beyond me.’

‘He takes a lot of credit for other people’s work.’ Young was leaning against the wall next to the door, her favourite spot. ‘There’s a reason all Junior Aurors hate him.’

Harry paced back and forth between their desks, trying to calm down his racing heart. He wanted this to be over. This whole stupid game they were playing, he wanted it to be done now. It hadn’t been fun the first week and it still wasn’t fun after the first month.

He liked Young, she was capable and smart and feisty and she had humour and she’d be great as _someone else’s_ partner. Harry just wanted Draco. He wanted his pointed silences and his annoyed sighs. He wanted his neat handwriting and his perfect manners. His stupidly smart clothes and his haughty tone. He just wanted his partner back.

‘We could go get some drinks after work, unwind a little?’ Young offered. Her tone made Harry stop pacing and look at her. She looked uncharacteristically… nervous.

‘Sure, we could invite Amelia and Ron.’ Harry agreed, but judging by her face that wasn’t the answer she’d been gunning for. She was so much easier to read than Drac- _Malfoy_. ‘Or did you-‘ Harry wasn’t sure how to continue that sentence.

‘Well I was thinking we could just go with the two of us.’ That was strange. Usually Young loved having Amelia around, she kind of adored her.

‘Like…’ Harry let his sentence trail off again. He felt a little off balance, not knowing exactly what was going on here.

‘Like, just the two of us maybe.’ She wasn’t looking him in the eye now and Harry could feel the heat crawl up the back of his neck.

‘Like a date? But I thought if I asked you out you’d kick me in the nuts?’ Harry had fled into the office to get some reprieve, but now he was just feeling even more off balance.

‘I just, I heard blondes are your type and I didn’t want that to be why you… treated me properly. I know better now.’ He hurried to add, but Harry was still stuck on the first part.

‘Excuse me what? My type is what now?’

‘I mean, I guess I’m not blonde enough. I just thought you know, I needed to prove myself, but you’ve been really nice and respectful and you’re a _great_ Auror and I don’t know, I’m sorry. You clearly don’t think of me that way and that’s _fine_. I can be professional, it’s just a little crush anyways-‘ Young was bright red at this point. It reminded Harry of how Ron could blush.

‘I- I don’t really know what’s going on exactly, but I am not really interested in going on a- a date with you, sorry.’

‘No, no, like I said, it’s fine. I can be professional, please don’t ship me off to Gaulding or something.’

‘What, no. I would never do that. You’re a good Auror and Gaulding is an arsehole.’ Harry tried to reassure her. It was genuinely not even something he had considered an option.

‘Oh okay. That’s good. Thank you.’

‘Just- well, can you explain what you meant by “not blonde enough”?’ Harry wasn’t sure he even wanted to know the answer, but it would only get stuck in his head so he’d asked anyways.

‘Oh, well, I thought- um, you and Malfoy. I was talking to Amelia the other day and she kind of made it sound like you two were- um- not just partners.’ Young was looking at the ceiling now, still blushing scarlet. ‘I thought, well, he turned out to be bad anyways, but he’s your type, so I might be too.’ Harry knew he was gaping at her, he just didn’t seem to remember how to close his mouth. ‘I’ll just- I’ll just go get us some tea. Do you want tea? I’ll get you some tea.’ She fled from the office before he could answer.

He stood there for an embarrassingly long minute. _Amelia_ thought him and Draco were more than just partners? Young had just, accepted that. Like it was no big deal? The conclusion she’d drawn from it was just that he liked blondes? He did not have the energy for this right now. They had a bad guy to catch, he had an uncooperative Gaulding to work around. He didn’t have the mental energy to think about what that meant too much.

He threw himself into work with even more vigour than before. Sometimes he forgot to eat, other times he forgot to sleep, but that didn’t matter because Dra- _Malfoy_ wasn’t there to tell him off. Young didn’t bring up the date-disaster again and for that Harry was immensely grateful.

When nine months had passed and Harry looked in the mirror after dragging himself out of bed, he barely recognized himself. The dark circles under his eyes had grown to epic proportions, his face had definitely gotten slimmer because he hadn’t been eating enough. He knew that if he took off his shirt he’d be able to count his ribs. He wasn’t dressing in his fancy clothes anymore because they just reminded him of Malfoy and he just really couldn’t be bothered.

He was going to work, catching the bad ones and making sure the good ones went home. Most of the time, he succeeded. Other times he found himself with blood all over his hands and the voice in the back of his head screaming “too slow, you were too slow, you didn’t work hard enough and now they’re dead”. He found himself on the doorstep of parents whose children weren’t coming home, on the doorstep of spouses whose loved ones were severely injured.

He knew, intellectually, that he had to eat and Ron and Hermione tried, but they weren’t with him all day every day like Malfoy had been. They didn’t see the things Harry saw. He ran out of the stash of Dreamless Sleep that Malfoy had left him and he just… didn’t get new ones. So he started sleeping even less.

He didn’t realize how bad it was until he was at Ron and Hermione for dinner one day and she burst into tears. Ron looked pained, but not surprised.

Harry had frozen with his fork halfway to his mouth.

‘Um, Hermione?’ He asked carefully, lowering his fork back to his plate. ‘Are you alright?’

She said something that might have been “give me a minute” as she headed to the kitchen. Harry looked at Ron.

‘There’s two things we need to talk about mate.’ Ron said. He’d already emptied his plate and picked it up. He headed to the kitchen. ‘Eat the rest of that, we’ll be right back.’

Harry obediently shovelled the rest of the food into his mouth, but it had lost all of its taste. He had thoughts just racing through his mind. Was Hermione sick? Was Ron okay? Had he done something wrong? Had someone died? When they came back Hermione’s face was blotchy, but she was not crying anymore and her breathing was normal. Harry swallowed thickly and put his plate on the coffee table.

‘Are you okay?’ He asked and her bottom lip started wobbling immediately.

‘Maybe don’t ask her that, mate.’ Ron said, rubbing his hand along her back. He’d sat down on the arm of Hermione’s chair.

‘We need to talk about you and how you’re doing.’ Hermione said firmly, even though her voice wobbled. ‘Harry you look awful. Like a shadow of yourself. You’re always tired, you’re so skinny. All you do is work, work and work more. We barely see you anymore. Ron says you’ve been so much quicker to anger at work, you’re constantly getting in arguments with that Gaulding. You’re just not acting like yourself and we’re worried.’

‘Look mate, I know you miss Malfoy. Hell even I miss the smarmy git a little bit, but you need to take care of yourself.’ Ron said. His face went a little blank before he continued. ‘Oh Merlin and Morgana.’ Ron sounded horrified. ‘I am friends with Draco Malfoy.’ Harry snorted out a laugh and Hermione smiled. ‘Not the point, anyways, Moine’s right. You look awful.’

‘I know, I know, I just- I don’t know. I need to distract myself or I’ll start thinking about where he is, how he’s doing, who he’s with, if he’s making progress, is he okay. I can’t stop. Sure, Dawlish gives me updates once a week but that’s mostly just “he’s not dead, Potter” and that’s it. I- I miss him.’

‘We know you do Harry, but just think of how he’d react if he saw you like this.’ Hermione said. ‘He’d be so upset.’

‘I know that. He was just always the one to remind me to eat and then I’d make us go home at a reasonable time because I wanted to make sure _he_ got some rest but now I’m working with Young and I don’t know how she does it but she doesn’t need sleep like normal people do and so I forget the time and then suddenly it’s 8pm and I haven’t eaten and then I’m too tired to make something and so I just crash, but then I have nightmares because I don’t have Dreamless Sleep anymore and I keep not getting a new supply and I’m just- I’m just overwhelmed.’

‘Oh Harry.’ Hermione said, tears in her eyes again. ‘We’ll help you. Just let us help you.’

‘Yeah okay.’ He said weakly. He cleared his throat. ‘There was another thing you guys wanted to talk about?’

‘Yeah, it’s partially why Mione is so emotional right now.’ Ron said, a grin overtook his face. ‘Moine’s pregnant. We’re having a baby.’ Harry wasn’t even sure what his face did in that moment, just that whatever it was it made Hermione smile (even if it was a little watery).

‘That’s amazing.’ He managed. ‘Congratulations.’ He hurried forward and nearly tripped over the coffee table in his haste to get to them. He hugged Hermione first and then Ron.

Some good news, maybe this was exactly what he needed. Maybe this would help him get out of his slump. They sat there for a while, just smiling at each other and Harry felt calmer than he had since Draco left.

‘Here’s what we’ll do.’ Hermione said after a few minutes. ‘You’re coming to dinner here for at least four days a week. You can cook two and I can cook two. Ron is going to be checking in on you at work as much as he can around lunch time and you are going to move back to Grimmauld place.’ She held up her had before he could argue. ‘I know you don’t want to, but Kreacher still lives there and he can make sure you have food. Just for a little while, Harry.’

He agreed.

He went back to Grimmauld place. He had Kreacher get a singular bedroom and the kitchen liveable and spend the next two months living there.

He got better. He still wasn’t great. He still didn’t sleep enough and he still hadn’t quite regained all the weight he’d lost, but he was doing better. Sure, maybe he was up at 3am that night and maybe that’s why he was awake for the message to be delivered directly to him and why he didn’t only see it at breakfast like a normal person would have.

It was a message from Dawlish.

_It’s going down right now. We’re getting Malfoy out. We’ll have him back to you by morning._

Harry was out of his bed before he even realized what he was doing. There were no coordinates, no nothing, just a message. A curtesy call, if nothing else. But he was awake now and there was no way he was going back to sleep. Where would they take him? Would he be allowed straight home? Or would they take him to the Ministry?

The Ministry, at least Dawlish would be there at some point. Harry shot into his clothes. Jeans, t-shirt, hoodie, socks, shoes, wand. He barely even got himself outside of the wards before he Apparated. He didn’t run through the Atrium, but only because he didn’t want to make someone think that there was something wrong. There was something very, very right. Draco was coming back. He was _coming back_. He was going to see him again, in the flesh, he was going to be here.

Harry burst into the nearly empty offices. Amelia was sitting in the breakroom, alone with a cup of tea.

‘I send Ron home a while ago.’ She said as a greeting.

‘Good.’ Harry breathed out.

‘So, you were still up? Dawlish send you a message?’ Harry nodded.

‘Yeah, I was awake anyways, figured I’d come see if there was anything I could do.’ Amelia smiled knowingly.

‘Right, and it had nothing to do with the fact that they’re most likely bringing Malfoy back with them?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Harry said, heading over to the kettle. Amelia snorted.

‘I think it’s sweet, the two of you.’ Harry thought about correcting her, but was it really worth it at this point? Was Harry not trying to convince himself not to throw himself into Draco’s arms the second he saw him again?

‘Thanks.’ Harry just said instead. That was vague enough, right? Harry forced himself to sit down after he’d poured himself a cuppa. He had no idea how long this might take, hell he didn’t even technically know if they were even bringing him back here.

He drank his tea, but he didn’t taste any of it. He started jiggling his leg somewhere around his second sip. Amelia, to her credit, didn’t say anything about it. Harry cast his fourth wordless, wandless Tempus. He was really restraining himself. He’d been there for an hour. It was fine, everything was fine.

Amelia heard them first. The voices coming down the hallway. Excited voices, happy voices. Harry was out of his chair immediately. He nearly ran into Proudfoot as he rushed out of the breakroom.

‘Potter?’ He asked, confused.

‘Hello, sorry. I was awake when I got Dawlish’s message. I figured I’d drop by.’ He made that sound far more casual than the whole affair had been. He also barely looked at Proudfoot, his eyes had already zeroed in on Draco, who was walking over to them, next to Dawlish. They’d been talking like old friends, comfortable.

He looked exhausted. That was probably the first thing that made it through the wave of “bloody hell he’s actually here”. The second was the bruises on the side of his face and his split lip.

Dawlish passed by Harry on his way into the breakroom, simply resting his hand on Harry’s shoulder for a second. It startled Harry into motion. Harry had no time or energy to process the look on Draco’s face before he threw his arms around him. Draco felt solid and _real_ just like he had when they’d hugged before he left.

‘Well hello Potter. I suppose I missed you too.’ Draco mumbled as he settled his arms around Harry.

‘Just shh for a second.’ Harry said. ‘I wanna enjoy this without having to deal with your smartass comments.’

‘It’s 4am, why aren’t you asleep?’ Draco asked after three heartbeats. Harry sighed. He untangled himself from Draco with some effort.

‘Really? That’s the second thing you’re going to say to me after a _year_?’

‘Well, you look like you haven’t slept in a year.’ Harry didn’t tell him that he already looked _much_ better than he’d done two months ago.

‘Well thanks. It’s good to see your lovely face as well. With the bruises and the dark circles.’ Harry made a few exaggerated motions at his own face. Draco rolled his eyes, but the gesture was so familiar Harry didn’t even really care.

‘That’s sweet. Already bickering again.’ Harry turned to find Amelia leaning against the wall just outside of the breakroom. ‘Mind if I welcome him back too?’ She smirked at Harry. He rolled his eyes and stepped aside. Amelia gave Draco a quick hug. ‘Welcome back.’

‘Thank you.’ He said, smiling at her. ‘Could you tell Dawlish and Proudfoot I’ll see them tomorrow? I would really like to get some rest.’

‘Of course. I will tell them.’ Amelia smiled and then turned to Harry. ‘You take good care of him now.’

‘I will.’ Harry agreed and Amelia headed off.

‘Mind if I crash at yours? I don’t really want to turn up at the Manor at 4am.’

‘Of course not, let’s go.’ Harry grinned at him. He didn’t mention that he would have gone right to the Manor with him if Draco wanted to go there. He was _back_. Harry wasn’t planning on letting him out of his sight for a while. Harry found himself practically skipping through the Atrium. Draco was back. He was _back_ and he wasn’t leaving anytime soon. At least, Harry really fucking hoped not.

Draco was, as usual, the picture of control and grace. At least, to an outsider. Harry could see beyond that and Draco was happy. Tired, but happy. Happy to be back. Happy to be with Harry, at least, he hoped so.

‘Side-Along?’ Harry held out his arm for Draco. Draco put his hand on Harry’s arm. His fingers were still stupidly long and elegant. Harry forced himself to focus on Grimmauld place. The squeeze was over soon enough.

Draco tilted his head and looked at Harry.

‘Grimmauld place?’

‘Oh right, you haven’t been around. I’ve been living here for the last two months.’ Harry said, he knew Draco was going to ask why. ‘I kind of lost inspiration of what to do food-wise so Hermione suggested it might be good for me to go live with Kreacher, he could make sure I ate.’ Draco watched him attentively as they headed inside.

‘You do look skinnier.’ Draco sighed.

‘I am.’ Harry swallowed. ‘I had a hard time, for a while.’ He admitted, but he refused to look at Draco. They headed into the hallway and Harry steered them up the stairs. ‘But I’m much better now.’ Draco hummed behind him.

‘Alright. So, I was told you’ve been working with a Junior Auror? Something Young?’

‘Rosella Young, yes and she got promoted like- uh, three weeks ago?’ Harry tilted his head. Time was weird, it would pass strangely sometimes. ‘So she’s a fully fledged Auror now.’

‘Hm.’ Draco sounded a little weird as he hummed. ‘How was it? Working with her?’

‘Fine?’ Harry said, more like a question than an answer. ‘She’s very capable and she hates Gaulding with a passion, so we have that in common.’

‘Hm.’ Draco made that same strange humming noise as he disappeared into Harry’s room.

‘O-kay.’ Harry said to himself before following Draco. ‘None of the other rooms are really liveable, so I can Transfigure you a bed here or downstairs? Or you could take my bed and I’ll sleep downstairs. I don’t really care.’

‘First of all, I will Transfigure my own bed. How you ever got an O on that OWL is beyond me. Second of all, I have never shared a room before or since Hogwarts and I don’t plan on starting today. I will sleep downstairs.’ Harry rolled his eyes.

‘Spoiled brat.’ He coughed into his fist. Draco glared at him.

‘Is there a functioning bathroom here?’

‘Down the hall second door on the left. Don’t forget to take care of those bruises.’ Harry motioned at his face again. Draco disappeared down the hall and Harry quickly changed into his pjs. Technically he’d already been in bed before he went to greet Draco, so he could go back to bed now. He was sitting on the edge of his bed as Draco came back from the bathroom, his face now clear from the bruises. He seemed to hesitate in the door opening.

‘Thank you, Harry.’

‘For what?’

‘For being there when I came back.’

‘Of course. I missed you.’ Draco nodded slowly and bit the side of his bottom lip in an uncharacteristically emotional gesture.

‘I missed you too.’ Draco said, before clearing his throat. ‘I should go turn your couch into a bed. Goodnight, Harry.’ Draco was already disappearing down the hall when Harry managed to get his voice to work.

‘Goodnight, Draco.’

Harry knew he was grinning like a fool when he slipped under the covers, but he couldn’t get himself to stop. Draco was back. He had missed Harry. Things could only get better from here. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And he's back! I didn't want to leave you all in suspense too long! We're heading into the final few chapters now. This has been fun!
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


	13. The Argument (and the reconciliation)

Young immediately agreed that Harry and Draco should go back to being partners. It might partially have been because Robards himself was in need of a new partner. She saw an opportunity and grabbed it with both hands. Draco had been the one to suggest that she could be Robards’ partner. Later, he’d grinned at Harry and told him Young was a former Slytherin, so that he’d been sure that would work. Harry had rolled his eyes to hide his pleased grin.

They seemed to fall back into their previous work rhythm with ease.

Draco was… not quite the same. The differences were subtle and those who didn’t know him like Harry did and didn’t spend as much time with him as Harry did, probably wouldn’t even notice, but Harry _did_ notice.

He was a little more paranoid. Draco had never been one to look over his shoulder. His shoulders had always been back, chin up, almost _daring_ someone to try and attack him. Now, if they went out after dark, he would look over his shoulder from time to time, almost like he couldn’t help it. During daytime he’d sometimes flinch at loud, unexpected sounds.

As far as Harry could tell, he’d stopped brewing potions for his own pleasure. Where, from what Harry understood, it had previously been a therapeutic thing for him to do, he seemed to have lost that. At least for now.

Harry tried to ask about it, but it was pretty clear Draco did not want to talk. He’d always brush Harry off with a borderline snide remark. Saying he was fine. That Harry needed to stop babying him. That Harry was not his mother. That he should mind his own business.

Harry could _feel_ they were heading for an argument. He just hadn’t expected himself to be the one to escalate it.

‘So, I’ve been thinking, right? About getting another tattoo.’ Harry said as Draco came back from where he’d been getting both of them a refill from the kitchen. Draco pretty much acted like he was at home now in Grimmauld place (technically he _was_ a Black, maybe? Harry really wasn’t sure how pureblood stuff like that worked). Harry had given the landlord his notice on his apartment a while ago and he’d continued to clean and revamp the old Black house. When he’d first graduated, being in the house had been too painful, everything had been too fresh, but he felt calmer now and the house made him feel closer to people that had been important to him.

‘What a surprise.’ Draco drawled, pushing the Butterbeer into Harry’s hand and flopping down on the couch. Harry didn’t let his snarky attitude deter him. He hopped off the couch and pulled his shirt up, twisting so that Draco could see his lower back.

‘Here.’ He pointed at the base of his spine with his bottle. ‘I want to get a lion, a serpent, a raven and a badger.’ When Draco didn’t say anything Harry twirled back around, still pretty steady on his feet. Draco had his eyes narrowed, almost like he was confused, but not quite that. Maybe he didn’t understand why. ‘For the four Hogwarts Houses. I want to remind myself that no one is entirely one house and that you shouldn’t want to be. I want to be brave and smart and loyal and cunning.’

‘That is awfully idealistic of you.’

‘Idealistic is my second name.’

‘No it’s not, it’s James.’

‘Yes and yours is Lucius.’ Harry rolled his eyes. ‘That’s not the point. The point is, I think I would be cool.’

‘Sure.’

‘Also, my collarbones.’ Harry said, aiming his bottle at Draco. ‘On one side, a Snitch and on the other side, lilies.’

‘I thought you already had a tattoo for your parents?’ Draco took a long drag from his bottle, his arm resting on the back of the couch. Harry wanted to launch himself at him. He didn’t. He just sighed.

‘I do, for both of them together. I want something for them individually.’ Draco nodded and then shrugged.

‘It’s your body.’ Harry tried not to let the small squeeze of panic in his stomach get to him. Draco was just in one of his moods, it was fine.

‘You’re acting like a dismissive arsehole again. I thought we were done with this?’ Harry said with as much bite as he could muster. It wasn’t a lot. The look on Draco’s face seemed blank at first, but Harry could see the tightness around his eyes and the downwards pull of his mouth. He was angry. Harry just didn’t understand why.

‘I should go home.’ Harry stared at him for a few seconds as Draco put his beer down on the coffee table and started heading for his coat.

‘Fine. You don’t want to tell me what your bloody problem is? Don’t tell me. Whatever.’

‘ _I_ don’t want to tell _you_ what my problem is?’ Draco whirled around, coat clenched in his fist. ‘That’s rich coming from Harry “I’m fine” Potter.’ Before Harry even had time to process what he was saying he was already out of the room and he heard the front door slam.

Their next week was tense. They’d had minor arguments before, but most of them had been about cases, not about… them. Harry just didn’t really get it.

He knew Draco was a little different now. He almost seemed to have gone back to how he was at Hogwarts. Sharper, more defensive. Unwilling to show any weakness and he would deflect anything you said back at you. He’d lash out if he deemed you to come too close.

Harry hated it.

It felt like any progress they’d made over the _years_ had been wiped away by this undercover operation. He felt off balance and uncertain. And the worst part was that it only seemed to get _worse_. The first week or so after he’d been back, they’d been fine, but then slowly but surely, he seemed to get more… angry. Angry at Harry and he just couldn’t figure out what he’d done _wrong_. He didn’t understand why Draco seemed to get more angry every single morning.

And what was the absolutely most confusing was when Harry found Ron in a whispering argument with Draco on that Friday. Both of them immediately stopped talking when they noticed him. Harry just rolled his eyes at them and went to get his coffee. He didn’t even want to spend the energy on figuring out what they were up to, he was already exhausted.

They’d had another bad case that week and it most certainly didn’t help with the tension already between them.

Harry had heard the whole “the work of an Auror is never done” but he had never really understood it until now. It had been almost five years of his work as an Auror and the endless stream of death and destruction and darkness was starting to wear on him. He understood now why Aurors who had been doing this for decades were so jaded and paranoid and angry all the time.

 _Harry_ was starting to feel paranoid and jaded. And tired, Merlin he was so bloody tired.

That was probably why he didn’t see the whole thing coming.

He’d gone to buy himself some new sneakers late that Saturday morning, his old ones had practically been falling apart at the seams to the point where not even magic could save them. So he’d caved and went to exchange some of his Wizarding money for pounds, and he’d headed into Muggle London. It took way longer than Harry would have liked it too, but shopping was a hassle in general. It was the late afternoon by the time he made it back to Grimmauld place.

When he came home and stepped inside he could immediately feel he wasn’t alone. The house shouldn’t have let anyone in but Harry and Kreacher wouldn’t have let anyone else in either, right? No one except-

Draco. Kreacher had decided he was as close to a Black as he was going to find and treated Draco better than he’d ever treated Harry even though he technically owned the house.

‘Good afternoon.’ Harry called out, they hadn’t been planning on meeting up, but maybe there was something about their latest case that wasn’t quite finished?

‘Afternoon.’ Sure enough, Draco’s voice drifted over from the living room. Harry kicked his shoes off and headed to where he’d heard Draco’s voice. He was sitting on one of the loose soft velvety chairs, looking serious and more… soft than he’d looked in a while, his hands folded under his pointy chin.

‘What’s going on? Something we still need to do for the Stafford case?’

‘No.’ Draco said, without elaborating.

‘Oh-kay.’ Harry said, slightly suspicious. ‘Not that I don’t enjoy having you here, but… _why_ are you here?’

‘I’m here because we need to talk.’ Oh great, all the best conversations started like that.

‘About what?’

‘About you.’

‘Me?’

‘Yes, about you and how you almost killed yourself just because I left on an assignment for a while.’ Draco’s voice cracked in a way Harry had never heard it do before. ‘I went to talk to Weasley and Granger yesterday, she’s doing good by the way, really getting round now, and they told me how bad you’d really been. I can’t believe you, Harry, I leave you alone for a year and you just stop eating and sleeping? What-‘

‘Excuse me?’ Harry found himself saying. ‘You went to Ron and Hermione?’

‘Yes, you obviously weren’t telling me the truth with your whole “it wasn’t that bad” and “I’m fine” routine, so I went to your friends-‘

‘You went behind my back?’ Harry realized his hands were shaking.

‘I was worried-‘

‘You absolute hypocrite.’ Harry snapped. ‘I “obviously wasn’t okay”? What about you, huh? I know you haven’t been as okay as you want everyone to believe you are but you don’t see me go running to, I don’t know, Pansy or Blaise.’ Draco’s eyes seemed flare as his temper sparked.

‘If you had just been honest with me-‘ He grit out.

‘Oh fuck off Draco. That’s bullshit.’ Harry snapped. ‘I told you I’d had a rough time for a while, but I wasn’t lying when I told you I was doing much better-‘

‘I could see you ribs!’ Draco threw out, pushing himself off his chair and pointing an accusing finger at Harry.

‘That is _not_ a new thing!’ Harry snapped back at him. ‘I have always had issues with food, that’s just because of the way I was raised. That is not just because of you, don’t _flatter_ yourself.’

‘I truly don’t understand why you’re so upset about this. I am just concerned!’

‘I’m _upset_ because the guy I’m bloody in love with apparently doesn’t _trust_ me enough to believe that I’m telling him the truth!’

‘Wait, what do you-‘

‘ _And then_ he felt the need to go to my friends without even _trying_ to really sit down and talk to _me_ first and-’

‘You’re in love with me?’ Draco cut in. Oh. Harry ran back through what he’d said. _Oh._

‘Well, yeah.’ All the fight had drained out of him pretty quickly. Draco stared at him for a good minute, Harry fought not to squirm. He wasn’t ashamed of this and he was 95% sure Draco loved him back. Like 90% at least. Maybe 85%. The number may have dropped to about 60% in the time that Draco was silent.

‘I think you should stop being an Auror.’ Harry felt like his stomach dropped down to his feet. Draco didn’t love him back, he didn’t even want to be Harry’s partner anymore- ‘Because I love you too and I can’t watch you destroy yourself.’ Harry was pretty sure that blinking stupidly wasn’t really the most normal response to hearing that the person you were in love with loved you back, but here he was doing exactly that. ‘I don’t know if you even realize it, but you hate this job.’

‘No I don’t.’ Harry managed to choke out.

‘Name one thing you like about it?’

‘I like working with you.’ Harry replied, he could feel himself smile. Draco rolled his eyes.

‘As sweet as that is, that doesn’t count.’

‘I like working with Ron and Amelia. I like it when we help people, when we can save people.’ Harry added, smiling smugly at Draco. Even if he wasn’t quite sure _why_ he was arguing the point.

‘But how often do we actually get to do that?’ Draco’s smile was softer than it had any right to be. ‘Most of the time we’re coming in after the bad thing has already happened. Have you not seen enough darkness to last you a lifetime?’ Harry considered that for a second.

‘What about you? Haven’t _you_ seen enough darkness as well?’

‘We’re not talking about me.’

‘No, we’re talking about _us_.’

‘Are we?’

‘We are now.’ There was an amused tilt to the faux-stern twist of Draco’s mouth. He sighed dramatically.

‘I love you, you love me, what else is there to discuss?’

‘Well, how about this: Am I allowed to kiss you? Or is there some weird pureblood custom for this? Should I be buying you gifts? Do some weird dance? Bring an offering to the peacocks?’ Draco cast his eyes to the heavens, but stepped into Harry’s space.

‘You are so dramatic, Potter.’ He said, those silvery eyes drilling into Harry’s.

And then he kissed him. Draco kissed him. On the mouth. Harry was pretty proud of himself for not freezing. It wasn’t like he’d kissed a guy before, or had even kissed that many people in general, but it just felt easy with Draco. He wasn’t scared or even nervous.

Draco was taller than him and having to tilt his head up was a new experience, but Draco’s hand cupped around his jaw was helping him along. Draco’s shirt was silky under his fingers and when he dug his other hand into Draco’s hair it was exactly as soft as he expected it to be. It was like a spark at the bottom of his spine. Something hot and liquid and warm that raced up and settled in his chest. It was a proper kiss too and Draco knew how to use his tongue. The thought that that was because he was a snake almost made Harry start to giggle uncontrollably.

Draco pulled back a little, resting his forehead against Harry’s.

‘I would answer your questions, but I don’t really remember them.’

‘Me neither.’ Harry admitted. ‘Also, we should probably have an actual proper, no shouting, no kissing conversation about our bloody job, but for now, can we just… not?’

‘We could have that talk tomorrow?’ Draco offered. ‘I mean,’ He looked uncharacteristically nervous as he continued. ‘I wouldn’t mind staying here, I mean, we don’t have to do anything obviously, I mean I’m not the most experienced person around and like I’m not tying to put you under pressure or anything and if you’re uncomfortable I can go home and- why are you smiling?’ Harry was seriously trying not to grin but he was just… adorable. His cheeks were pink and he wasn’t really making eye contact.

‘It’s just- here you are: the fearsome Draco Malfoy, stuttering and blushing because you can’t seem to say the word sex.’

‘Oh shut up, Potter.’

‘Nah uh, you can’t call me Potter anymore.’

‘And why is that?’

‘Your tongue has been in my mouth, we’re officially on first name basis.’

‘You’ve called me Draco for years at this point.’

‘Well yes, but now it’s official.’

‘Official, huh?’

‘Yes.’

‘Ugh, I am dating a Gryffindor, this is going to be an adventure.’ Draco sighed, but he looked immensely pleased with himself.

‘Also, you can stay the night, but we don’t need to do anything you don’t want to.’ Harry smirked. ‘I’m up for pretty much anything though.’ The look on Draco’s face was totally worth it.

That Sunday, Harry went and got the three new tattoos he’d been talking about. Missy had been delighted to welcome him back and she didn’t have any other appointments that day. Draco came with him, just like old times. It was something familiar and the way Draco smiled at him made Harry’s stomach flutter.

It was like every other time apart from Draco holding his hand now when he flinched at the sting of the magic at the bottom of his spine. Missy didn’t comment, but she did grin at him and wink before they headed out.

The tingling of his new tattoos combined with the warm, soft feeling of Draco’s hand in his was… maybe the best he’d felt in a while. Now that the feeling of just being _off_ was gone, he realized how bad it had been. How wrong it had felt not to be on good terms with Draco.

They went back to the Manor for lunch with Draco’s friends and Harry was glad he was there to see the look on their faces as Draco casually said: “thanks love” when he handed him the sandwiches.

Pansy spluttered some intelligible sounds before letting out a happy kind of squeal.

‘I told you so.’ Daphne just grinned as she held her hand out to Blaise while he dug around in his pocket and fished out a Galleon he handed to her. Greg just kind of shrugged and kept eating. Millie barked out a laugh and said: “get it Draco”. Harry could feel his cheeks heating up, but he was sure his blush was nothing compared to Draco, whose cheeks were practically scarlet.

‘He’s even blushing Gryffindor red now.’ Blaise said with a smirk and in a completely surprising move, Draco barked out a laugh and flipped Blaise the bird.

They didn’t see Draco’s mother and that was okay. Harry was actually kind of happy about that. He felt pretty certain that Draco had thought this through to the point where his mother wouldn’t be a problem, but it was still intimidating to think about Narcissa Malfoy being his boyfriend’s mother.

His _boyfriend_ , good merciful Merlin, he had a boyfriend now. Draco Malfoy was his boyfriend. If anyone had told them back at Hogwarts things would turn out this way he would have told them to go get their head checked at St. Mungo’s.

Harry was dragging Draco to dinner with Ron and Hermione. If they were going to let Draco’s friends know, they were also letting Harry’s friends know, but not until they had that conversation about the whole Auror thing.

‘What would we even do, if we weren’t Aurors anymore?’ Harry asked as Draco draped his arm over his shoulder.

‘Well, I hadn’t considered myself quitting too, but I figured for you, well, you were already doing it during our fifth year.’ Draco said, looking at the gently moving grass in the painting above the fireplace. Harry frowned, trying to figure out what he meant. Their fifth year had been an entire bloody mess.

‘I’m not sure what you mean.’

‘Teaching. You taught a whole bunch of other students Defence.’

‘Oh.’ Harry said. ‘You want me to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts?’

‘I think you would love it and it’s about what _you_ want. Not what everyone expects from you.’ Draco ran a hand through Harry’s hair. Even though this was all very new, it didn’t _feel_ new. ‘Why did you become an Auror in the first place?’ Now that was a question he’d asked himself before.

‘I didn’t really know what else to do. Once I got older, everyone just assumed I would become an Auror. Fighting against the Dark is kind of what I’ve been doing since I learned about magic. It seemed like it was just what I was _supposed_ to do. Hermione would become Minister of Magic, Ginny would become a professional Quidditch player and I’d be an Auror. It seemed as logical as Neville going to do something with Herbology.’

‘But?’ Draco prompted.

‘Well, because people always just assumed that’s what I would go and do, I never really looked further either. First there was just so bloody much going on. There was a war and people dying and fighting for my life and then dying but not quite dying and then suddenly I was an adult and I was tired of making hard decisions and so I didn’t think about it, I just did what people always assumed I would do.’

‘Don’t you agree that now is the time to actually choose for yourself?’

‘I mean, probably. I think Robards is a great Auror, but I don’t really want to become like him. So tired and jaded and angry at the world, I don’t want that, but I already feel like it sometimes.’ Harry admitted.

‘I know, me too. Although I don’t mind it as much.’ Draco said with a wry smile. ‘I’ve always been angry at the world. Mostly for the wrong reasons, but, it’s not good for a person. It eats you up inside.’ Draco was still staring ahead. His profile looked as aristocratic as Harry remembered it.

‘Why did _you_ become an Auror?’

‘Well, it wasn’t to help people. I’m not that selfless-‘

‘Yes, yes, I know, you’re a big bad Slytherin. There always has to be something in it for you.’ Harry snorted.

‘Yes, exactly. You’re the one that convinced me, actually.’ Harry tilted his head in confusion.

‘What?’

‘You told me back then “you could come to Auror training with me and Weasley, it would be good for your reputation”, and I remember thinking: yes, it would be, wouldn’t it? And that’s why I started Auror training. I stuck around for a lot more reasons than just that, but that’s why I started.’

‘And now? What do _you_ want?’ Harry asked, nudging Draco in the side so he would look at him. Draco met his eye.

‘I was thinking about Potions.’

‘You could _teach_ Potions.’ Harry suggested. ‘I could teach DADA and you could teach Potions.’

‘So you want to go from Auror partners to professors?’ Draco asked, but he was smiling. Not smirking, or sneering, honestly smiling. Harry shrugged.

‘Why not?’

‘They might not hire us.’

‘Oh please. In case you didn’t know,’ Harry put on his most self-important, annoying voice. ‘I’m Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived Twice. And I have quite a lot of sway with the Headmistress, she was my Head of House, you know.’ Draco’s smile turned into a full blown grin.

‘Oh, so the great, powerful Harry Potter will use his _name_ to get himself and his boyfriend a position at Hogwarts, I’m sure that will go over _so well_.’

‘Only if necessary.’ Harry said with a grin of his own, he fought not to let it turn into a smirk as he continued. ‘To make you smile like that I would do whatever it takes.’ Draco stared at him for a few seconds before making a face.

‘Oh Merlin, is this what it’s going to be like? The sappy, disgustingly sweet sentiments?’ Harry laughed and laughed and laughed until he had tears rolling down his cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! I know it's taken ages, but they finally figured their shit out! Only one more chapter to go, it probably won't be super long, but I do really want to wrap the story up nicely and show you where the boys end up and how they're doing!
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


	14. The Tattoos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are with the final chapter. This story has been a fun little experiment for me. I haven't really been feeling very inspired lately, so it was very nice to just get this story out there and post something again. Thank you all very much for your comments. I really appreciate it. 
> 
> This is just a bit of a shorter chapter to close things off.

‘Professor?’ Harry looked up to find one of the fifth years standing at his desk.

‘Yes, miss Haywood?’ She straightened the sleeves of her robes, which usually meant she wanted to ask something she wasn’t sure he was going to answer or something she thought he would say no to. Like that time she asked if he’d take them on a night-time trip into to Forbidden Forest.

‘I was wondering about your tattoo.’ She gestured at his right wrist. He’d rolled up his sleeves earlier in the class and apparently she’d spotted the one on his wrist. He lifted his hand so she could get a better look. The little snake curled around his wrist, wiggled around a little before settling down again.

‘What did you want to know?’ He always tried to encourage curiosity in his students. Especially because he knew that if they didn’t come to him for answers, they’d go look for them elsewhere and that was probably more dangerous.

‘Well, why a snake? You were a Gryffindor, right?’ The blue lining of her robes was distinctly Ravenclaw, but the way she asked the question reminded him a lot of Hermione when they were younger. The near annoyance with herself because she didn’t understand something.

‘Yes, I was a Gryffindor, but I could have been a Slytherin as well. The houses aren’t black and white. Most people are a little bit of all of them and that’s good.’ He said with a smile.

‘So did you get this for professor Malfoy?’ Harry could feel the heat rise in his cheeks.

‘What makes you ask that?’

‘Well, you two are like, together, right?’ She shifted her feet, but there was a sparkle in her eyes that made Harry feel like she was enjoying this now. She definitely also had a little bit of a Slytherin vibe.

‘We are, but that’s also not why I got this.’

‘Well, then why?’ Harry grinned at her.

‘It’s pretty.’ He traced a finger along the green, gold scales of the snake. As it slithered around his wrist a little further, it made its scales shimmer and shine. He looked up at the student. She looked unimpressed.

‘I suppose.’

‘Was that all, miss Haywood?’

‘Yes, that’s all. Have a good day professor.’ She turned around in a whirl of black robes and blonde hair.

‘You too miss Haywood.’ Harry stood as she left the classroom and twisted his torso a few times to get the cricks out of his back. The professor’s chairs weren’t necessarily more comfortable than the students chairs had been.

Still, he smiled to himself. Mondays were usually quite rough, the students were still with their heads in the weekend, and to be fair, so was Harry. Especially since he’d been away from Hogwarts and hadn’t had much chance to see Draco.

Luckily, the day was over now and he knew Draco had to be finished as well. So he headed to their rooms.

At first, they’d lived separately. Mostly because neither of them really felt like explaining to Headmistress McGonagall _why_ they wanted to stay in the same rooms. That was just too awkward. So they spend their first few years teaching alternating between their rooms during the night.

Eventually Draco had gotten fed up and he’d just moved all of Harry’s stuff into his room. It meant a longer walk for Harry from his classroom to their room, but he was willing to deal with that. He scratched absentmindedly at his chest as he headed for the peace and quiet of their rooms near the dungeons.

His latest addition to his collection of tattoos was a pretty special one. Well, all of them were special, but this one certainly was as well. When he’d told Missy of his newest idea, she grinned like she knew something he didn’t. Which was true.

Draco had gone to get a tattoo on Saturday, while Harry’s appointment was on Sunday. It had been a bit of a surprise when Draco told him he was getting another tattoo. Ever since Harry had started with his first one, he hadn’t really stopped, but in all those years, Draco had never given any indication he wanted to get more than just the dragon on his back.

‘Dray?’ Harry asked as he pushed the door open.

‘That’s professor Dray to you.’ Draco said in response, but he was grinning, so Harry didn’t take him seriously.

‘It’s five o’clock on a Monday, let’s not get into technicalities.’ Harry walked over to him, he seemed to be correcting essays. There were rolls of parchment neatly divided into two piles. When Harry checked his students’ essays it usually ended in organized chaos, but not Draco. He ran his hand through Draco’s hair. He made a faux-frustrated noise, but he didn’t attempt to get away from Harry.

‘How was your day?’

‘Long, but we’ve started on Redcaps with the third years, that’s always fun.’

‘Ah yes, terrifying your students with tales of little creatures that will try to bludgeon them to death. So much fun.’ Draco said blankly.

‘Oh please, they love the bloody ones.’ Harry said with a shrug. ‘As long as I don’t release one in the room and say whoever survives passes the class, they don’t care.’ Draco let out an inelegant snort.

Harry let silence fall. He waited a few seconds before clearing his throat. Draco look at him over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow.

‘What?’ Draco asked after a few more beats of silence.

‘Aren’t you going to show me?’

‘Show you what? These essays? They’re pretty terrible to be honest. Even you could pick out all of the mistakes, easily.’ Harry rolled his eyes.

‘No you wanker. Your tattoo.’ Draco smirked.

‘Oh, is _that_ what you meant?’ Harry narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. When Draco didn’t cave, Harry switched tactics.

‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.’ Now that seemed to work better. There was a familiar spark of interest in the pair of grey eyes. A slow smile spread over Draco’s face.

‘Well, I suppose that seems like a good deal.’ Draco got up off his chair and leaned back against his desk. ‘Do you want to guess where it is?’ Harry pursed his lips, he had a pretty good idea.

‘Chest.’ Draco seemed surprised for a second.

‘Did Missy tell you?’

‘Nope.’

‘Huh, well, you are right. It’s on my chest. What about yours?’

‘Guess.’ Draco rolled his eyes.

‘Well you don’t have much room anymore on there, but I’m going to guess torso. Left side.’ Harry grinned. He might have been keeping that spot open deliberately and Draco seemed to have noticed.

‘Do you want a countdown? Should I put on some music? Or are you just going to show me now? I’ve had to wait a day longer, I get to see first.’ Harry decided. Draco didn’t seem to want to argue. He started unbuttoning the pale blue shirt (a gift from Harry) and Harry just leant against the back of the chair to enjoy the view.

It was one of his favourite things to be honest. He really liked Draco’s hands, they were so elegant and to see them work on the little buttons was very nice. There was also the slow exposure of pale skin, of collarbones and stomach.

And the appearance of a new tattoo.

It started with the suddenly borderline nervous expression on Draco’s face, which made Harry pause. Draco normally didn’t really do nervous. He had to look twice as Draco slipped his shirt off entirely. At first he wasn’t sure if he was even seeing it right.

Over his heart, there was lighting. Proper lightning, coming from a dark stormy cloud. It forked out and Harry could almost hear the crackle of it, that’s how real it looked. Draco had lightning tattooed over his heart. He blinked a few times before looking up. Draco had smoothed out his face.

‘Lighting?’ Harry managed to ask. Draco cleared his throat.

‘Yes, lightning.’ Harry could feel the smile pull at the corner of his mouth.

‘It’s amazing.’ Harry didn’t want to assume anything, but Draco didn’t take his tattoos lightly. ‘I should probably show you mine.’ Harry threw his robes over a nearby chair, earning him an unimpressed look from Draco. Harry ignored him and pulled off his shirt. Draco’s eyes dropped to his chest. Harry could see the exact moment he picked out the new tattoo.

‘That’s a star sign.’

‘Yep.’ Harry said. ‘Do you know which one?’

‘It’s Draco. It’s the sign I was named after.’

‘Yep. Seems like we had a similar idea.’

‘Seems like.’ Draco finally grinned. ‘We should probably head to the Great Hall, it’s about time for supper.’ Harry just stepped closer and put his hand over the lighting tattoo.

‘Supper can wait.’ He said with a grin.

‘I suppose it can.’ Draco grinned back at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And they lived happily ever after. Thank you again for reading and commenting and leaving kudos! 
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


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